More than 150 dead in earthquake in Nepal

The Nepalese police picked up this Saturday 157 deathsare a 6.4-magnitude earthquake that struck two remote regions, leaving more than 150 injured, in the deadliest earthquake to hit the Himalayan country since 2015 when nearly 9,000 people died.

In Jajarkot district, the epicenter of the earthquake that struck at dawn, at least 105 people were killed and 81 injured, Nepalese police spokesman Kuber Kadayat told EFE.

Another 52 people died in the neighboring district of West Rukum, where 85 people were also injured, according to the source.

The total number of wounded is 166, according to Nepali police, although previously the army spokesman, Krishna Prasad Bhandari, put the number at at least 185 in statements to EFE.

Jajarkot was the scene of a magnitude 6.4 earthquaken last Friday night, according to Nepal’s National Center for Earthquake Monitoring and Research. The US Geological Survey (USGS) lowered this figure to 5.6.

Two regions from the Himalayan country The affected areas are characterized by mountainous nature and difficult road access, which complicates rescue efforts.

Jajarkot police station deputy sub-inspector Narendra Gautam told EFE that there is no mobile phone network or electricity in many of the affected areas.

Kadayat said search teams have gained access to most of the affected areas earthquakeand specified that work continues on Sunday.

For its part, the Nepalese army has mobilized five helicopters and one plane, evacuating around forty wounded in both districts to the city of Nepalgunj and Kathmandu so far, according to Bhandari.

Nepal is among the countries most prone to natural disasters and has a very vulnerable population, mostly poor, in addition to having insufficient infrastructure to deal with floods or earthquakes.

A seismologist from the government’s Department of Geology, Mukund Bhattarai, told EFE that the high number of casualties in Jajarkot and West Rukum was due to the structure of houses in the region.

“Many houses in these areas are built of mud and stone and are built on steep terrain,” he said, comparing yesterday’s quake to similar ones in other neighborhoods where structures are more resilient.

Added to this was the moment the earthquake struck, around midnight.

“They didn’t have time to escape,” he lamented.