Prayers for earthquake-hit Nepal flood social media

New Delhi: As a massive earthquake hit Nepal and also left India shaken in its wake, the social media went abuzz with people praying for those affected and sharing their experiences on websites like Facebook and Twitter.

Hashtags like #Pray4Nepal, #NepalEarthquake, #CandleLightVigil, #Dharahara and #earthquake trended through the day with millions of tweets and posts appearing on social media.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tweet promising help to Nepal was retweeted more than 2,100 times and 'favourited' by around 2,200 users.

"Spoke to PM Sushil Koirala, who is in transit in Bangkok on his way to Kathmandu. Assured all support & assistance during this tough time," Modi had tweeted.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also took to the microblogging website, where she tweeted, "My prayers with the people of #Nepal and across India after the massive #earthquake. Hope everyone is safe. Stay calm."

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdulla, too, sent out a message.

"Heart wrenching imagines coming out of Nepal. #NepalEarthquake #PrayForNepal Can't help but remember 2005 in Kashmir. Terrible memories," posted Omar.

Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan tweeted the picture of a damaged temple in Nepal and wrote, "O! God .. this is Nepal earthquake ..!!! I shot a song here for 'Mahaan' with Zeenat Aman .. pray all well."

Shahrukh Khan wrote, "May Allah look after all... Prayers with all in Nepal." The first pictures of the destruction that were shared on Instagram went viral across online platforms.

A person with the username 'harbrapper' posted a picture of a devastated house in Kathmandu and wrote, "Terrible site, brick and stones lying everywhere."

That post drew comments from people in countries like China, Japan and the US, who said they were praying for the "ill-fated" victims.

Meanwhile, tech-giant Google launched a person finder App to help in the search for persons who have gone missing in the tragedy.

People from across India flooded Facebook with their reactions to the quake, which was felt in cities like Kolkata, New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Lucknow, among others.

Emergency phone numbers in Nepal and of different cities in the country were also being shared widely on the social media.

Nearly 700 people were killed after a powerful earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale struck Nepal on Saturday, flattening houses and buildings.