Reuters
At least 157 people were killed, after a strong earthquake hit a remote pocket of Nepal, officials said early on November 4.
Moderate tremors were felt as far away as India’s capital New Delhi, nearly 500 kilometres from the quake’s epicentre. Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ headed towards the incident site with a medical team Saturday morning. Both Nepal Army and Nepal Police personnel have been mobilized to carry out rescue works, officials said.
Nepal lies on a major geological faultline where the Indian tectonic plate pushes up into the Eurasian plate, forming the Himalayas, and earthquakes are a regular occurrence. Nearly 9,000 people died in 2015 when a 7.8-magnitude quake struck Nepal, destroying more than half a million homes. Six people died in November 2022 when a 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck Doti district, near Jajarkot.
Deaths reach 157
Rescue workers in Nepal began digging through the rubble of collapsed houses with their bare hands on Saturday, searching for survivors after the country’s worst earthquake in eight years killed 157 people and shook buildings as far away as New Delhi.
The death toll included 105 people killed in Jajarkot and 52 in neighbouring Rukum West district, both in Karnali province, Rama Acharya, an official in the disaster department of the federal home (interior) ministry, told Reuters.
Deputy Prime Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha said India and China have offered to help in search and rescue operations.
“We have told them that we are carrying out preliminary search, rescue and relief operation now. We will request you for any help if required later,” he told Reuters.
