- Officials fear the death toll from Friday’s earthquake could rise.
- Nepal’s PM reached the affected area to monitor the operation.
- Expressed deep sorrow over the loss of life and property.
A strong earthquake struck Nepal’s western region of Jajarkot, killing at least 128 and injuring dozens, officials said Saturday, as homes collapsed in the region and buildings as far away as New Delhi in neighboring India shook.
Nepal’s National Seismological Center said the quake, which had a magnitude of 6.4, struck at 11:47 pm (1802 GMT) on Friday. The German Research Center for Geosciences downgraded the earthquake’s magnitude from 6.2 to 5.7, while the US Geological Survey estimated its magnitude at 5.6. reuters informed of.
The earthquake is the deadliest since 2015 when two earthquakes killed nearly 9,000 people in the Himalayan country.
Authorities fear the death toll from Friday’s earthquake could rise because they were not able to establish contact with the mountainous area near the epicenter, about 500 km (300 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu, where the tremors were also felt. Were done. The district has a population of 190,000 and its villages are spread in remote hills.
Jajarkot district official Harish Chandra Sharma said, “The number of injured could be in hundreds and the deaths could also increase.” reuters by phone.
Police spokesman Kuber Kadayat said 92 people were killed in Jajarkot in Karnali province and 36 in neighboring Rukum West district. The epicenter of the earthquake was in Ramidanda village.
A Prime Minister’s Office official said at least 85 people were injured in Rukum West and 55 in Jajarkot, while Sharma said at least 50 people were in hospitals in Jajarkot alone.
“Many houses have collapsed, many others have cracks,” Sharma said. Thousands of residents spent the entire night in cold, open fields because they were too afraid to go into damaged homes due to the aftershocks. ” “I haven’t been able to go in by myself.”
Police officer Namraj Bhattarai said that to reach the affected areas for search and rescue, roads blocked by landslides caused by the earthquake would have to be cleared.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal left for the area on Saturday morning with a 16-member army medical team to oversee search, rescue and relief, his office said.
Dahal, posting on
Local media footage showed broken parts of multi-storey brick buildings and large pieces of furniture scattered about. Video on X showed people running into the street as some buildings were evacuated.
“Houses have collapsed. People came out of their homes. I am among the crowd of frightened residents. We are trying to find out details of the damage,” police officer Santosh Rocca said over the phone.
