An Earthquake of 6.8 magnitude Hit Sikkim; Epicentre Located at Mangan and Sakyong Areas

An Earthquake of 6.8 magnitude Hit Sikkim which resulted in the innumerable loss of  human lives. The epicentre of the quake, the biggest in two decades, was located at Mangan and Sakyong areas, over 50 kilometres from Gangtok on the Sikkim-Nepal border.  

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Magnitude 3 or lower earthquakes are mostly almost imperceptible and magnitude 7 and over potentially cause serious damage over large areas, depending on their depth. Earthquakes are measured on richter scale. The Richter scale is used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes. 

The scale, more formally known as the Richter magnitude test scale, ranges from 0 to over 8.0. It is a logarithmic scale, meaning each unit of increase on the scale corresponds to an absolute increase by an order of magnitude, or factor of 10. Richter scale was developed in 1935 by Charles Richter in partnership with Beno Gutenberg, both of the California Institute of Technology.