The earth shook in Nepal during the night. According to current information, at least 128 people were killed, and the authorities fear more deaths. Many places are still cut off from the outside world.
According to official figures, at least 128 people have died in an earthquake in northwestern Nepal. Dozens more were injured. The number of deaths is expected to continue to rise, officials said.
Emergency services were looking for victims in mountain villages, but many regions were still cut off from the outside world. “Rescue and search teams have to clear roads blocked by landslides caused by the earthquake to reach the affected areas,” said a police official in one of the affected areas.
Tremors also felt in New Delhi
According to the National Earthquake Monitoring Center (NEMRC), the quake had a magnitude of 6.4 and occurred on Friday evening at 11:47 p.m. local time. Accordingly, the center was in Jajarkot district, a hilly area with 190,000 inhabitants in Karnali province. Jajarkot is about 500 kilometers west of the capital Kathmandu.
The US earthquake monitoring station USGS had previously measured a magnitude of 5.6 and a depth of around 18 kilometers. According to a report in the Times of India, the tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi in India.
Strong earthquakes again and again
The Himalayan region, in which Nepal is located, is geologically extremely active. There the Indian continental plate is pushing under the Eurasian plate at a rate of around two centimeters per year, which repeatedly leads to strong earthquakes.
In spring 2015, a severe earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 (7.6 according to Nepalese information) shook the area around the capital Kathmandu. The number of deaths rose to around 9,000 at that time. Millions of people were left homeless.