(UPDATED 12:43 a.m. April 26) At least 1,457 people were killed in the 7.9 magnitude shallow earthquake that hit Nepal, according to a CNN report that quoted Nepal’s National Emergency Operation Center.
Earlier, Reuters reported that some 900 people are dead after a shallow earthquake measuring 7.9 magnitude that struck west of the ancient Nepali capital of Kathmandu on Saturday (April 25) based on initial police estimates.
Kathmandu’s main civil hospital said 36 bodies had been counted.
Nepal’s Kantipur TV showed at least 21 bodies lined up on the ground
Earlier, CNN said Laxmi Dhakal, a spokesperson for Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs, had said that the death toll had already reached 597.
It also said that based on data from the US Geological Survey, there have been at least 15 aftershocks of 4.5 magnitude and higher in Nepal since a massive 7.8 earthquake struck the mountainous Asian nation around midday Saturday.
The quake struck west Kathmandu, causing buildings to collapse, injuring many and leaving a pall of dust over the city, witnesses said.
The death toll is expected to rise as Kathmandu’s decrepit buildings, criss-crossed by narrow alleys, are home to large families. A 1934 quake of magnitude 8.3 in the impoverished Himalayan nation killed over 8,500 people.
At the main hospital in Kathmandu, people with broken limbs were being rushed in for treatment. It was unclear how many people were injured.
A girl died after a statue fell on her in a park in Kathmandu, a witness said, while another died inIndia when her house collapsed.
An historic tower built in the 19th century in Kathmandu collapsed, trapping at least 50 people,Nepal media reported.
The Dharara Tower, built in 1832, had been open to visitors for the last 10 years and had a viewing balcony on its eighth floor.
One body was removed from the tower and a second lay further up the road, a Reuters witness said.
A Reuters reporter in Kathmandu said he had seen some buildings collapse and walls of several houses reduced to rubble. “Everyone is out in the streets, people are rushing to the hospital,” the reporter said.
Tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi and other northern cities in India, with reports of tremors lasting almost one minute. (Eagle News Service with reports from CNN, Reuters)