Quake toll in UP now 14, schools closed for two days

The toll due to Saturday's earthquake rose to 14 in Uttar Pradesh even as many parts of the state were on Sunday again jolted by fresh tremors that forced Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to order the closure of schools till Tuesday.

The tremors began a little after noon and lasted for more than 40 seconds. The intensity of the shocks was measured around 6.7 on the Richter scale, officials said.

The tremors created panic among the people, who rushed out of their houses.

Sunday's tremors caused cracks in the boundary wall of the legislative assembly building here, officials said.

A police outpost collapsed near Aurobindo Park in Indiranagar here, while two police station buildings in New Agra and Fatehabad developed cracks.

Cases of loss of property were reported from Pilibhit, Mainpuri, Ghaziabad, Kanpur rural, Jhansi, Gorakhpur, Allahabad and Varanasi.

Governor Ram Naik was in Kushinagar to attend a programme when the tremors hit. He was immediately evacuated from the dais and taken to an open space.