AGARTALA, Jan 4 (TIWN): Panic ran high during the peak hour of Monday morning as several buildings developed cracks when an earthquake shook Tripura in the morning.

Several multi-storeyed buildings developed cracks due to quake in Tripura with its epicentre in Manipur's Tamenglong district bordering area.

Incidents of a wall collapse and crack in one house were reported from other districts of Tripura.

The water bodies rose in waves to a considerable height during the quake, as the local people claims.

The tremor also shook Tripura massively where hundreds of people ran out of their homes and assembled on the streets. The tremors were felt in the interior parts of the state.

A massive earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 on the Richter scale rocked Eastern and North Eastern part of India on Monday morning.

Terrified residents of Tripura were woken by fresh shocks of earthquake.

A strong 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck northeast India early today, sending panicked residents fleeing into the streets. The epicentre of the earthquake, which occurred at 4.37 am at a depth of 17 km below the ground, was at Tamenglong which is located 33 kilometers from Imphal in Manipur.

The tremor cracked walls and created panic among the people, other buildings were also reported to have been damaged.

At least six people have been killed in Manipur and more than 30 injured.

People recounted losing power, being awakened by shouting relatives and an intense shaking that lasted from 35 seconds to two minutes.

It is to be mentioned here that Tripura was declared high risk prone for earthquakes by the NDMA after the state was found to fall under seismic zone V.

However, the city was severely damaged by an earthquake of 8.7 magnitudes in the year 1897 when the royal palace was also fully destroyed. Earthquakes of high magnitude over the last 200 years in the region are- 
Earthquake of 10 January 1869 (Magnitude 7.5), Shillong plateau earthquake of 12 June 1897 (8.7), Srimangal earthquake of 1918 (7.6), Dubri earthquake of 1930 (7.1), Assam earthquake of 15 August 1950 (8.5).

The earthquake on Monday was felt in parts of Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura. India's northeast is considered the sixth major earthquake-prone belt in the world. Guwahati, Shillong and Agartala are the three Northeast Indian cities at highest risk of being devastated by an earthquake, with 36 other cities in areas prone to earthquakes, according to government data. Guwahati and Agartala fall in what is called “very severe intensity zone”, or zone V, the highest-risk earthquake zone.