New tremor shakes quake-hit Indian state

A new tremor rocked India's earthquake-hit Gujarat state today, sending terrified residents of the main city Ahmedabad fleeing…

A new tremor rocked India's earthquake-hit Gujarat state today, sending terrified residents of the main city Ahmedabad fleeing out of buildings.

The tremor registered 5.3 on the Richter scale and struck at 10:25 p.m. (1655 GMT), with its epicentre 20 km (12 miles) northeast of the town of Bhachau, officials said.

With nearly 90 per cent of its buildings flattened, Bhachau was one of the towns worst hit by the January 26th earthquake of 7.7 on the Richter scale which killed 30,000 and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

Since then there have been at least five aftershocks of more than five on the Richter scale, making thousands of people nervous about staying inside even so far undamaged houses, for fear of falling masonry.

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Though aid from all over India and the world has been pouring into Gujarat, there have been complaints of poor coordination of relief operations and slow disbursement of assistance.

Reuters