Strong earthquake shakes Nepal: at least 157 dead The dumbest US senator

Simple houses in ruins, desperate people – and the number of victims continues to rise: at least 157 people have been killed in a major earthquake in Nepal. In addition, at least 170 people were injured, a police spokesman in the capital Kathmandu told the German news agency on Saturday.

According to measurements from the National Earthquake Monitoring Center (NEMRC), the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.4 and occurred on Friday evening at 11:47 pm local time, when many people were sleeping. The next day, footage from local television channel Kantipur TV showed people searching for their belongings in destroyed homes and pulling injured victims from the rubble.

Rescue efforts began in some places soon after the quake, but other places in the mountainous Himalayan country could not be reached even on Saturday, said administrative representative Harischandra Sharma of Jajarkot district, where the earthquake center was located. Some roads were blocked by landslides and some helpers could only reach remote places on foot.

The affected areas are among the poorest in South Asia. Footage from Kantipur TV also showed villagers helping themselves and those around them without protective equipment. They used shovels and headlights.

Balbir Bishwakarma, a resident of Jajarkot who lost his home in the earthquake, told the TV channel that his close relatives were lucky to have survived. But some of his friends died and he thinks they might have survived if they had been rescued sooner.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal visited Jajarkot by helicopter on Saturday and met injured people at a local hospital, media reported. Some injured people also have to be airlifted to hospitals for emergency treatment – including in the capital Kathmandu – because the affected areas lack proper infrastructure, it said.

Sete Giri, a village official in Jajarkot, said hundreds of houses had been damaged. Many residents spent Saturday evening outside. “Many houses were built traditionally – made of stone and clay,” Giri said. “That could be the cause of the damage.”

According to the village representative, many people who otherwise regularly work as migrant workers in the wealthier neighboring country of India are currently in their home country for important Hindu holidays such as the upcoming Diwali festival of lights. The earthquake was also felt in northern India.

The quake caused the most deaths in Nepal since the massive earthquake in spring 2015 about eight years ago, which killed about 9,000 people and left millions more homeless. At that moment, the area around the capital Kathmandu was shocked. Numerous buildings collapsed, including UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The Himalayan region, in which Nepal is located, is extremely active geologically. There, the Indian continental plate is pushing under the Eurasian plate – causing repeated earthquakes – there have been several in recent weeks.

Switzerland considers aid to Nepal after the earthquake

Switzerland wants to explore options for assistance in consultation with the Nepalese government after Saturday evening’s devastating earthquake. A corresponding request has not yet been received, but the Swiss Embassy in Kathmandu is in contact with partner organizations in the affected regions.

The Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs (EDA) told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Saturday morning that it was not aware of any Swiss victims of the earthquake in a remote region in western Nepal. On X, the FDFA expressed its condolences to the families of the victims and the injured.

(dsc/cst/sda/dpa)