At least 128 people were killed and more than 200 injured after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit western Nepal late Friday, a senior police official said Saturday.
Nepal police spokesman Kuber Kadayat told Anadolu the casualties occurred in the two main districts in western Nepal.
“Right now, the death toll in Jajarkot district stands at 92, and in Rukum West at least 36 people have died,” he said. “The death toll may increase.”
He said a massive rescue operation is underway and damage has been caused to houses in the districts.
Strong tremors were felt in parts of north India after the quake.
Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal expressed deep sorrow about the “human and material damage” caused by the tremor. His office wrote on X that Dahal has mobilized all three security agencies for the immediate rescue and relief of the injured.
Other agencies claimed that the death toll is at 119 and could rise, and 100 others were injured after a strong earthquake hit the west of Nepal.
The shallow quake struck at 11:47 pm (18:02 GMT) on Friday around the western area of Jajarkot, a hilly district about 500 kilometres (310 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu, that is home to about 190,000 people.
The US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 5.6 and said it was just 18 kilometres (11 miles) deep.
The tremors were felt as far away as Kathmandu and even about 600km (375 miles) away in the Indian capital New Delhi.
“The death toll has reached 119 and at least 100 have been injured,” Karnali Province police spokesman Gopal Chandra Bhattarai was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
Jajarkot local official Harish Chandra Sharma said at least 34 people had been killed in his district while in neighbouring Rukum West district, police official Namaraj Bhattarai said at least 35 deaths had been reported.
“Rescue and search teams have to clear roads blocked by dry landslides due to the earthquake to reach the affected areas,” Bhattarai said.
Writing on social media platform X, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal expressed “his deep sorrow over the human and physical damage caused by the earthquake” and ordered security agencies to launch immediate rescue and relief operations.
Local media footage showed crumbled facades of brick houses, with large pieces of furniture scattered on the ground.
Local officials said it had not yet been possible to establish contact with areas near the epicentre in Ramidanda.
Source: Agencies
