No major loss of life, property reported in Chamba earthquake

Only partial damage to houses at some places has been reported for which relief cases are being made after inspections were carried out

A day after a magnitude 5.3 earthquake jolted Chamba in Himachal Pradesh, the state government said no major loss of life and major property has been reported immediately.

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However, only partial damage to houses at some places has been reported for which relief cases are being made after inspections were carried out. The possible affected panchayats where the epicentre of the earthquake has been identified as Sach, Seichu, Shoon (HilluTwan), and Kumar (Parmar) of Tehsil Pangi in Chamba district.

Prabodh Saxena, chief secretary-cum-chairman state executive committee, in a statement, said the emergency operation centres (EOCs) immediately swung into action and with the help of GIS, an area near the epicentre of the earthquake was identified. “Contact was established with the district officials to assess the situation and information was also sought. Fortunately, no life or major property loss was immediately reported,” he said.

“As of now, no loss of life has been reported, and the situation seems to be normal. Although it will take some more time to reach the remotest corners, all affected GPs have been touched, and things are normal. There have been only partial damages to houses, for which the patwari is making relief cases as the team carried out its inspections. However, no loss of life or major property damage has been reported until now. There are some reports of cracks to the houses and the same will be verified after field verification and relief, if any admissible, under the norms shall be paid to the affected families in due course of time,” the statement added.

The earthquake in Chamba coincided with the Kangra earthquake which occurred on April 4, 1905. It was one of the most devastating seismic events in the history of Himachal Pradesh having magnitude 8.0 on the Richter scale and its epicentre was at Kareri near to Dharamshala. The earthquake caused widespread destruction across the region, with significant damage to buildings, infrastructure and loss of life. Estimates suggest that over 20,000 people lost their lives and many more were injured or displaced.