Officials said on Saturday that at least 128 people were killed and dozens injured in Nepal when a strong earthquake struck the Jajarkot area in the west of the country, causing buildings to shake and homes to collapse. The National Earthquake Monitoring Center in Nepal reported that the earthquake occurred at 11:47 PM local time (1802 GMT) on Friday and had a magnitude of 6.4. However, the German Research Centre for Geosciences reported the magnitude as 5.7, while the U.S. Geological Survey estimated it at 5.6.
This earthquake is the deadliest since 2015 when nearly 9,000 people were killed due to two earthquakes in the Himalayan nation, which turned entire cities, centuries-old temples, and other historical sites into rubble, destroying over a million homes and causing $6 billion in economic losses. Officials fear that the death toll from Friday's earthquake could rise since communication has been lost with the mountainous region near the epicenter, located 500 kilometers west of the capital Kathmandu, where residents also felt tremors. The region has a population of 190,000 and its villages are spread across remote hills.
Harish Chandra Sharma, an official from the Jajarkot area, told Reuters by phone that "the number of injured could reach hundreds and the death toll could rise as well." The police spokesperson reported that 92 people were killed in Jajarkot and 36 in the neighboring Rukum West district, both located in the Karnali Province. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the village of Ramidanda.
The office of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal announced that the Prime Minister flew to the area early today with a 16-member military medical team to oversee search, rescue, and relief operations. Dahal expressed his deep sorrow for the loss of life and property due to the earthquake in a post on the social media platform X and ordered security agencies to begin rescue and relief operations immediately.
