Earthquake Damage in North Sikkim

Here are some pictures that Abu took while working on the earthquake relief team in North Sikkim.

Our New Place

 Here's our new place. We're on the fifth floor. It is a complex that caters to upper-middle class Indians and most of our neighbors speak English.

The cracks in you can see here were there before the earthquake - they've had numerous quality control issues with the development.

Living Room - Notice the BIG window! Typical Siliguri has small (often frosted) windows that look directly into other people's small windows. This is a big improvement!

Kitchen

  Right after we moved in the earthquake hit. The cement beams separated from the brick partition wall an cracks formed in every room.

6.9 Earthquake in North Sikkim

I will write more when I have more time and my internet connection is more reliable. We are fine. I want to share some news links for you so that you can keep praying for people of Sikkim and those affected by the earthquake. We will let you know how you can be involved as we learn more. Information has been hard to get because people have been unable to reach the hardest hit areas due to landslides and bad road condition. We're borrowing our friends' internet "stick" (not sure what those are called) but you can pray that we can get internet installed at our new flat. Thanks for your prayers and love.

Sikkim Earthquake 2011 Update as of 1 P.M. Friday | MF Monitor

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/sikkim-earthquake-death-toll-rises-to-112/186297-3.html

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Sikkim-earthquake-No-trace-of-120-people-at-a-North-Sikkim-