At least 60 dead in Nepal earthquake

Prakash Mathema Agence France-Presse The capital of Nepal, Kathmandu, on August 22

More than 60 people were killed in an earthquake earth that shook a remote region of western Nepal, local officials contacted by AFP reported on Saturday morning.

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 sifting through rubble in the darkness 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 shaking was felt until 'in 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 this stadium was the most affected in the border province of Karnali.

Photo: Balkumar Sharma Agence France-Presse Jajarkot hospital was stormed by residents transporting injured people there on Friday. Survivors took refuge in the corridors of the establishment following the earthquake.

In Jajarkot, “26 people died and many were injured,” district chief Suresh Sunar told AFP, who fears the death toll could be higher.

“It is still dark and it is very difficult to have all the information,” he added, “the toll could increase.”

The sector hospital was taken seriously. assault by residents carrying injured people there.

In the neighboring district of Rukum West, at least 36 people died and 85 injured, local police chief Namraj Bhattarai told AFP.< /p>

“We are working on relief operations,” he added.

On a major geological fault

Earthquakes are common in Nepal, which lies on a major geological fault where the Indian tectonic plate sinks into the Eurasian plate, forming the Himalayan range.

The government in Kathmandu has deployed security forces to participate in the rescue.

 

“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 expressed “his deep sadness for 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.

< p>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, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and attracting tourists from all over the world – had suffered irreversible damage, striking a blow to Nepalese tourism.

In November 2022, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake killed six people in the Doti district, near Jajarkot struck on Friday evening.