KATHMANDU, Nov 3, 2023 (AFP) – 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.