Sikkim earthquake was unusual for Himalaya

A major earthquake, measuring 6.9 on the Ritcher scale, rocked Sikkim and parts of Nepal and Tibet in the Himalaya on Sunday. The death toll, reported till late night on Monday was over 70. The United States Geological Survey reports that the earthquake centred 20.7 km below the earth's surface, around 68 km northwest of Gangtok. Two aftershocks of mediocre intensity—5.7 and 5.3 on the Richter scale—followed the quake. Heavy rain in the region trigerred landslides and hampered rescue operations.