Kathmandu - A 6.9 magnitude earthquake on 18 September in northeastern India which also caused deaths in parts of Nepal and China, serves as a stark warning to the earthquake-prone region, experts say.
“This is a wake-up call for many, for all of those indifferent to earthquakes,” Amod Mani Dixit, executive director of Nepal’s National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET), told IRIN in Kathmandu.
“I am happy the earthquake took place, though I am sorry for the loss of life. I feel earthquakes are being forgotten. Now they are saying, ‘Don’t forget me’.”
Reports say dozens of people were killed in the region - including 16 in India, six in Nepal and seven in Tibet. Scores more were reportedly injured by the quake, which was felt as far away as Delhi and parts of Bangladesh. The tremor was felt across 20 districts of Nepal.
The main affected districts included Sankhuwasabha, Taplejung, Ilam, Dhankuta, Pachthar, Sunsari, Okhaldhunga in the Eastern Region, and Bhaktapur in the central region, Nepal’s National Emergency Operation Centre within the Ministry of Home Affairs reported on 19 September.
The tremor in Kathmandu, though relatively mild, brought people onto the capital's streets, 272km west of the epicentre in India's mountainous Sikkim State.
Some residents leapt from windows, a reaction experts say reinforces the need for greater preparedness - in particular what to do and what not to do before, during and after an earthquake.
“This generation has never experienced an earthquake like this before,” said Umesh Prasad Dhakal, executive director of the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRC), urging the need for increased earthquake preparedness and awareness.