Quake shakes Bhutan, India’s remote northeast

GAUHATI, India — An earthquake shook the remote mountain nation of Bhutan and India’s northeastern Assam state, sending people running into the streets and cracking some buildings. It was not clear if there were any injuries.

The Monday afternoon earthquake left cracks in some buildings in Gauhati, the capital of Assam state, but it was centered in a little-populated eastern region of the tiny, mountainous nation of Bhutan.

The quake briefly shook Thimphu, Bhutan’s capital.

“We felt a strong shock for a moment — one second. People panicked and rushed out of their homes and businesses,“ said Tashi Dhendup, who runs a travel agency in Thimpu. He was not aware of any damage to buildings in that city.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the 6.3-magnitude quake was centered about 80 miles (125 kilometers) north of Gauhati and 115 miles (180 kilometers) east of Thimphu.