Happenings Around the World

“I was shaken up from my bed . . .”

CHURCHES DAMAGED

BY EARTHQUAKE in Northeast India

people and injuring more than 100. About 165 houses and buildings collapsed due to the quake.

A There were no reports of Baptist

casualties. However, the strong quake caused deep cracks to the Langol Church of the Kuki Baptist Convention (KBC). KBC is a Baptist association of ethnic Kukis in Northeast India. It is associated with the Manipur Baptist Convention, a Baptist World Alliance member organization. Church leaders said the Langol building,

located in the state capital Imphal, had to be razed. KBC General Secretary Ngamjapao Haokip said the walls and pillars of two other Baptist churches in Imphal also suffered severe damage. “They have not collapsed but it is very dangerous to go inside,” he told UCA News, an independent Catholic news service.

“I was shaken up from my bed to join people who rushed out of their homes,” Kabi Gangmei, director of APBaid, told the BWA. “I later realized that the state was hit by a major earthquake of 6.7 on the Richter scale.”

Gangmei said “a team from Manipur Baptist Convention [rushed] to the affected areas, especially to Motbung and Kabui Khullen.” He stated that “public infrastructures such as telecommunication and electricity services were badly disrupted in the areas.” Other

Christian institutions suffered

damage as well, according to UCA News. A girls’ hostel of the Catholic Medical College suffered damage. The parish presbytery and a boys’ hostel in Tamenglong were also affected.

28 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE

Buildings damaged by the earthquake in Manipur state, India

(Photos courtesy of the Manipur Baptist Convention )

A team from Manipur Baptist

Convention [rushed] to the affected areas . . .

magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit the Northeast Indian state of Manipur on January 4, killing at least nine