More than 100 dead after strong quake hit Nepal while people slept
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Kathmandu: Helicopters and ground troops rushed to help people hurt in a strong earthquake that shook north-western Nepal districts, killing at least 128 people and injuring dozens more, officials said Saturday.
Authorities said the death toll of the quake that hit just before midnight on Friday, Nepal time, was expected to rise, noting that communications were cut off in many places.
As day broke, rescue helicopters flew into the region to help out and security forces on the ground were digging out the injured and dead from the rubble, Nepal police spokesman Kuber Kadayat said.
Troops were also clearing roads and mountain trails that were blocked by landslides triggered by the earthquake. Helicopters flew in medical workers and medicines to the hospitals there.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal flew in on a helicopter with a team of doctors. Dahal led an armed communist revolt in 1996-2006 that began from the districts that were hit by the quake.
Dahal, posting on X, formerly Twitter, expressed deep sorrow at the loss of life and property and ordered security agencies to launch immediate rescue and relief operations.
Local media footage showed crumbled facades of multistorey brick houses, with large pieces of furniture scattered. Videos on X showed people running into the street as some buildings were evacuated.
“Houses have collapsed. People rushed out of their homes. I am out in the crowd of terrified residents. We are trying to find details of damage,” police official Santosh Rokka said by phone.
In Jajarkot district, where the quake’s epicentre was, 92 people were confirmed dead and another 55 injured, Kadayat said.
At least 36 people were killed and 85 injured in neighbouring Rukum district, where numerous houses collapsed.
A man is treated in hospital in Nepalgunj, Nepal. Helicopters and ground troops rushed to help people hurt in a strong earthquake that shook north-western Nepal districts as people slept.Credit: AP
Security officials worked with villagers all throughout the night in the darkness to pull the dead and injured from fallen houses.
The quake was felt in India’s capital, New Delhi, more than 800 kilometres.
The US Geological Survey said it had a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 and occurred at a depth of 17 kilometres. Nepal’s National Earthquake Monitoring & Research Centre said the epicentre was at Jajarkot, which is about 400km north-east of the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.
Earthquakes are common in mountainous Nepal. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 2015 killed some 9000 people and damaged about 1 million structures.
AP
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