Thangkhonao Gangte wasn’t sure if he was awake when a magnitude-6.7 earthquake struck northeastern India on Monday morning.
“What is happening? Am I dreaming or is this real?” Gangte, who works for World Vision’s HIV AIDS Project, asked himself.
“Then I started to hear my wife and children shouting. We all came out of the house with fear and confusion as it was still dark,” he said.
At least seven people died and at least 85 were injured as a result of the quake, Manipur’s police spokeswoman R. K. Tutusana said Tuesday.
The epicenter of the quake was 29 kilometers (18 miles) west of the city of Imphal, the capital of Manipur state, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Home Ministry spokesman Kuldeep Singh Dhatwalia told CNN there was some damage to residential and government buildings in Imphal.
The quake was also felt in neighboring Bangladesh, where one person died of a heart attack and more than 30 were hurt rushing out of buildings for safety, according to Dhaka Superintendent of Police Farukh Hossain.
The quake was felt in eastern Nepal, but no casualties have been reported, Nepal Home Ministry Joint Secretary Rameshwor Dangal said.
The temblor, which hit at 4:35 a.m. local time (7:05 p.m. ET), was centered in an isolated area. Imphal itself has a population of more than 250,000. Emergency crews from a variety of agencies responded quickly to provide relief and rescue, Dhatwalia said.
Cabinet Secretary P. K. Sinha convened a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) Monday to review the situation.
Some power facilities suffered damage during the quake and the power supply to Imphal remains disrupted, but the telecommunications systems were back to normal.
Another tremor, measuring 3.6, was recorded five hours later.
The quake, which took place about 55 kilometers (about 34 miles) underground, originally was reported as magnitude 6.8, but that was later revised to a magnitude of 6.7, USGS said.