At least 119 people have been killed in an earthquake in a remote area of ​​western Nepal, local officials confirmed to AFP on Saturday morning.
The US Geological Survey reported that the earthquake had a magnitude of 5.6 at a depth of 18 kilometers.
With its epicenter 42 kilometers south of Jumla, not far from the border with Tibet, the quake hit the Himalayan country’s western side on Friday evening.
“The death toll reached 119 and at least 100 were injured,” Gopal Chandra Bhattarai, a police spokesman in Karnali province, where at least two districts suffered heavy damage, told AFP.
The western districts of Jajarkot and Rukum, south of the quake, have so far been worst hit in the border province of Karnali.
Videos and photos posted on social media show residents searching through the rubble in the dark to pull out survivors from the collapsed buildings.
Destroyed or damaged mud houses could be seen and survivors were outside to protect themselves from possible debris, while ambulance sirens were heard.
People felt moderate tremors in places like New Delhi, India’s capital, which is 500 kilometers from the epicenter.
Bhattarai said Nepalese security forces have been widely deployed to help with relief efforts in the earthquake-affected areas.
He further informed that although some roads are closed due to damage, we are trying to reach the area through other roads.
The Kathmandu government deployed security forces in relief operations.
“We have reports of human and material damage in two areas due to the earthquake,” where “security forces have been mobilized for relief operations,” said Home Ministry spokesman Narayan Prasad Bhattarai.
He added that the death toll is uncertain at this stage.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal expressed “deep sorrow over the human and material damage caused by the earthquake”.
The US Geological Survey reported several aftershocks of magnitude 4.0 in the same area a few hours after the quake.
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal in 2015, killing about 9,000 people, destroying more than half a million homes and 8,000 schools.
In November 2022, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck Doti near Jumla, killing 6 people.