Magnitude 5.6 quake leaves 26 dead, brings injuries, damages in western Nepal: officials

At least 26 people were killed in an earthquake that hit a remote part of Nepal, a district official said early Saturday.

"In our district, 26 people have died and many are injured," Suresh Sunar, the chief of Jajarkot in the far west of the Himalayan country, told AFP after the 5.6 magnitude quake struck late Friday.

A shallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit a remote pocket of western Nepal on Friday, injuring people and damaging homes, officials said.

Nepal's Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal expressed "his deep sorrow over the human and physical damage caused by the earthquake".

Writing on X, Kamal said the quake struck at 11:47 pm local time (1747 GMT) in the village of Ramidanda in the Jajarkot district in western Nepal.

Kamal said he has mobilised three security agencies "for the immediate rescue and relief of the injured."

He did not give more details.

According to the US Geological Survey, the quake struck at a depth of 18 kilometres (11 miles) below ground.

Moderate tremors were felt as far away as India's capital New Delhi, nearly 500 kilometres from the quake's epicentre.

Early on Saturday, Suresh Sunar, chief of Jajarkot district in western Nepal, told AFP no deaths had been reported yet and that authorities were trying to assess the damage.

"Houses have been damaged and people have been injured but we are trying to get more details," Sunar said. 

Indian social media users also reported feeling the quake in the northern cities of Lucknow and Patna.

Six people died in November 2022 when a 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck Doti district, not far from Jumla.

Nearly 9,000 people died in 2015 when a 7.8-magnitude quake struck Nepal, destroying more than half a million homes.

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© Agence France-Presse