At least 70 people were killed and hundreds injured when a magnitude 6.4 earthquake shook northwestern Nepal late Friday, government officials said.
With rescuers just beginning to reach the mountain villages where the quake occurred, officials warned that the death toll was likely to rise as daylight better revealed the extent of the destruction and as communications with the cut-off areas were restored.
The earthquake occurred around midnight, when the people were sleeping. Tremors were also felt in the Indian capital New Delhi, hundreds of kilometers away.
“So far, 34 deaths have been confirmed by police and government officials,” said Suresh Sunar, the chief district officer in Jajarkot district, the epicenter of the earthquake and about 500 kilometers west of Kathmandu, the capital.
In another earthquake-hit district, 36 deaths were confirmed, with 53 people injured. “Security personnel are being mobilized for the rescue operation,” said Hari Prasad Panta, an official in Rukum (West). “We are focused on saving lives from midnight.”
Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said he has ordered the army and national police to be mobilized for rescue and relief operations.
Earthquakes are common in mountainous Nepal. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake in 2015 killed about 9,000 people and damaged about a million structures. Its economic impact was estimated in billions of dollars in one of South Asia’s poorest countries.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to reporting.