(Kathmandu) At least 56 people were killed in an earthquake that shook a remote region of western Nepal, local officials said Saturday morning.
The 5.6 magnitude earthquake was measured at a depth of 18 km according to the American Geological Survey USGS. It hit the far western Himalayan country late Friday evening.
“In our sector, 26 people died and many were injured,” Suresh Sunar, head of Jajarkot, 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.”
In the neighboring area of Rukum West, “at least 30 people died and more than 40 were injured,” local police chief Namraj Bhattarai told AFP. “We are working on relief operations,” he added.
Moderate tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi, the Indian capital.
Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal expressed “deep sadness for the human and physical damage caused by the earthquake.”
Earthquakes are common in Nepal, which lies on a major geological fault where the Indian tectonic plate pushes into the Eurasian plate, forming the Himalayas.
“Security forces have been mobilized for rescue operations,” said Nararyan Prasad Bhattarai, spokesperson for the interior ministry. “We have information indicating human and material damage in two sectors,” he said, adding that the toll was not confirmed.
In November 2022, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake killed six people in Doti district, near Jajarkot.
Nearly 9,000 people died in 2015 when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, destroying more than half a million homes.