More than sixty people were killed in an earthquake that shook a region of western Nepal, local officials reported Saturday morning contacted by Agence France-Presse
The 5.6 magnitude earthquake was measured at a depth of 18 km according to the USGS. It hit the far west of the Himalayan country late Friday evening. Its epicenter was located 42 km south of Jumla district, not far from the border with Tibet.
Videos and photos posted on social media show residents digging through rubble in the dark to extract survivors from collapsed buildings. It shows destroyed or damaged mud houses and survivors outside to protect themselves from possible further collapses, while the sirens of emergency vehicles blare. Moderate tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi, the capital of India located nearly 500 km from the epicenter.
In Nepal, the districts of Jajarkot and Rukum West, south of the epicenter, have so far been the most affected in the border province of Karnali. In Jajarkot, “26 people died and many were injured,” Suresh Sunar, district chief, told AFP, who fears the death toll could be higher. “It’s still dark and it’s very difficult to have all the information,” he added, “the toll could increase.” The area hospital was stormed by residents transporting injured people there.
In the neighboring district of Rukum West, at least 36 people died and 85 were injured, local police chief Namraj Bhattarai told AFP. “We are working on relief operations,” he added.
Nearly 9,000 dead in 2015 Nepal earthquake
The Kathmandu government deployed security forces to assist in the relief effort. “We have information indicating human and material damage in two districts due to the earthquake” where “security forces were mobilized for relief operations,” said Nararyan Prasad Bhattarai, spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense. ‘interior. The human toll is not confirmed at this stage, he added.
Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal expressed “deep sadness over the human and physical damage caused by the earthquake.” The tremor was followed several hours later by aftershocks of magnitude 4 in the same area, according to the USGS.
Earthquakes are common in Nepal, which lies on a major geological fault where the Indian tectonic plate pushes into the Eurasian plate, forming the Himalayan range.
Nearly 9,000 people died in 2015 when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, destroying more than half a million homes and 8,000 schools.
Hundreds of monuments and royal palaces, including sites in the Kathmandu Valley listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and attracting tourists from all over the world, had suffered irreversible damage.