A powerful earthquake with a 6.8 magnitude jolted Sikkim and several areas of northeast and neighbouring Nepal today leaving at least 15 persons dead (numbers expected to increase) and over 100 injured besides causing extensive damage to several buildings.

The epicentre of the quake - the biggest in two decades - was located at Mangan and Sakyong areas, over 50 km from Gangtok on Sikkim-Nepal border.

Many tall buildings shook and developed cracks in Gangtok and Darjeeling and window panes shattered as thousands of people ran out to the streets in panic.

Tremors were felt in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, parts of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chandigarh and Delhi.