Survivors fear aftershocks

THOUSANDS of terrified survivors of a Himalayan earthquake that killed 81 people and shook parts of India, Nepal and China crowded yesterday into shelters and relatives’ homes or stayed out in the open for fear of aftershocks.

Soldiers used dynamite and earth-movers to clear landslides on highways through the steep valleys linking the worst-hit Indian state of Sikkim to the rest of India. They managed to clear a path to Mangan, the town closest to the epicentre of Sunday’s 6.9-magnitude quake, but other communities remained cut off.