At least 37 people have died in a strong earthquake in Nepal. A representative of the district administration in the Jajarkot district in the west of the country, where the center of the quake was located, told the German Press Agency.
The actual number of victims is therefore likely to rise – especially since there was initially no confirmed information from other areas cut off from the outside world. According to measurements by the National Earthquake Monitoring Center (NEMRC), the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.4 and occurred on Friday evening at 11:47 p.m. local time.
People buried under rubble
“We have reports that many people are buried under rubble,” said administration representative Harischandra Sharma. Rescue work began in some affected areas shortly after the quake. However, the helpers were initially unable to reach other places because roads were blocked by landslides.
The quake was also felt in the north of neighboring India, including in the capital New Delhi, as the “Times of India” and other Indian media reported.
The Himalayan region, in which Nepal is located, is geologically extremely active. There the Indian continental plate pushes under the Eurasian plate – which repeatedly leads to strong earthquakes. Around eight years ago – in the spring of 2015 – a particularly severe earthquake shook the area around the capital Kathmandu and caused numerous buildings to collapse, including UNESCO World Heritage sites. Around 9,000 people were killed and millions were left homeless.
