143 people died, more than 150 people injured due to earthquake in the mountainous region of Nepal.
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A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on Friday night, killing at least 143 people and injuring more than 150 in a remote mountainous region of the country, while hundreds of houses were damaged. Officials gave this information on Saturday. This is the most destructive earthquake in Nepal since 2015. According to the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Centre, the earthquake occurred at 11.47 pm on Friday night, with its epicenter in Jajarkot district. This place is about 500 kilometers west of the capital Kathmandu. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal in 2015 killed nearly 9,000 people and injured more than 22,000. The earthquake was felt in Kathmandu and its surrounding districts, and even in New Delhi, the capital of neighboring India.
According to Nepal Army spokesperson Krishna Prasad Bhandari, Nepal Army mobilized its personnel on Friday to carry out rescue operations at the site immediately after the earthquake. On Saturday, rescue workers were seen trying to rescue people buried under the debris of collapsed houses. According to state-run ‘Nepal Television’, Jajarkot and Rukum districts of western Nepal were most affected by the earthquake. According to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, the number of people who lost their lives in the earthquake in Jajarkot and Rukum has increased to 143. More than 150 people have been injured in the earthquake. The death toll is expected to increase further. Sarita Singh, deputy mayor of Nalgarh municipality in Jajarkot, was also among those killed in the earthquake, officials said. The National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Center said that there were about 159 mild aftershocks after the earthquake that occurred on Friday night.
Many people stayed out overnight fearing another earthquake and possible damage to their houses. According to posts shared on social media, people were seen pulling people out from the debris of collapsed buildings in the darkness. Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ visited the site along with a team of medical personnel on Saturday morning, officials said. He collected information to assess the damage caused by the earthquake and inspected the affected areas along with the Chief District Officer. He then returned from Jajarkot to Surkhet with the seven injured and their family members.
Dahal is scheduled to return to the capital by regular flight. He will leave the Nepali Army helicopter which he used to reach the spot for rescue operations. Officials said that Nepal Army and police personnel have been deployed in rescue operations. All three security agencies of the country – Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Forces – have been deployed in rescue operations. The Prime Minister’s Office posted on social media platform ‘X’, “Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal has expressed deep sorrow over the loss of life and property in the earthquake that occurred on Friday night. He has deployed all three security agencies for immediate relief and rescue.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday expressed grief over the loss of life and property due to the earthquake in Nepal and said that India stands in solidarity with its neighboring country and is ready to provide it all possible facilities. Tagging Prachanda in a post on social media platform ‘X’, Prime Minister Modi said, “I am deeply saddened by the loss of life and property due to the earthquake in Nepal. India stands in solidarity with the people of Nepal and is ready to provide all possible assistance. We express our condolences to the bereaved families and wish speedy recovery of the injured. Officials said that the injured are undergoing treatment at Surkhet District Hospital. Prime Minister Prachanda has instructed the security agencies to carry out rescue and relief work immediately.
President Ramchandra Paudel has also expressed grief over the loss of life and property in the earthquake. According to the President’s Office, he has appealed to the government and all concerned agencies to ensure relief and rescue operations in the earthquake-affected areas. Officials said rescue and relief operations at the incident site were hampered due to blocked roads and damaged bridges. The government has released Rs 10 crore to the authorities to provide immediate relief to the earthquake victims. Apart from this, the Home Ministry has decided to release Rs 55 lakh for disaster relief in Jajarkot and Rukum West districts for carrying out relief and rescue operations of the affected people.
The Home Ministry has sent initial relief supplies through Nepalese Army helicopters. Nepali Congress Party has announced financial assistance of Rs 50 lakh to help the government in search, rescue and rehabilitation work. Health and Population Minister Mohan Bahadur Basnet said the government will provide free treatment to earthquake victims. Earthquakes occur frequently in Nepal. Actually, Nepal is situated on the Himalayan mountain range, where the Tibetan and Indian tectonic plates meet and they are coming closer to each other by about two meters every century, as a result of which pressure is generated and earthquakes occur.
On October 16 this year, an earthquake of 4.8 magnitude had hit Far Western Province of Nepal. At the same time, on October 22, an earthquake of 6.1 magnitude occurred in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu. Bharat Koirala, senior seismologist at the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Center in Nepal, told PTI, “The Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates are constantly colliding, which generates a lot of energy.” Nepal is on the border of these two plates, which is a hyperactive area in terms of earthquakes and hence earthquakes are common in Nepal.
Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
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