Watch: Quake toll rises over 110, 60 dead in Sikkim

Even as efforts to rescue people trapped under landslides and in the aftermath of the Sikkim earthquake gather pace, the death toll in the state alone stands at 60 . The overall death toll for the earthquake that took place on Sunday, has increased to more than 110.

While the Army has reached the town of Mangan, the epicentre of the earthquake and restored electricity in Gangtok, many other districts are still without electricity. Many landslides in and around the area have yet to be cleared and communication links have to be restored. The earthquake which measured 6.8 on the Ritcher scale destroyed 15,000 homes in the state and left about a lakh houses partially damaged.

The rescue operations across the state are still underway, but landslides in the region continue to pose a serious challenge to it. Two Army jawans, hit by boulders, were killed during the operations. Bad weather conditions also played spoilsport but the important roadlinks — the national highways, NH55 connecting Bagdogra to Darjeeling and NH31 connecting Sikkim to Bagdogra — have been restored.

Pawan Chamling, Sikkim’s chief minister, told CNN-IBN he rushed to meet the victims and distribute relief. The government is yet to assess the actual economic damage the earthquake has caused the state, but estimates are pegged at Rs 1 lakh crore .

“We are trying to assess the actual damage and expect to complete the assessment in 10 days and submit the report to the Central Government,” Chamling said.

Chamling told CNN-IBN that the state will take several months to recover from the tragedy and feared that the casualty figures could rise as nine villages in North Sikkim are still cut off due to landslides and roads being completely damaged.

“Over 300 injured are getting treatment in various hospitals and control rooms have been established in all the four districts. Water lines have been damaged and so is the power supply. Over 2000 houses have been completely damaged and over one lakh houses have sustained damages,” said Chamling.

On Tuesday, the Chief Minister announced ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the family of those died in the earthquake and Rs 50,000 for injured in the disaster.

Watch video of the damage and trauma caused by the earthquake and consequent landslides