KATHMANDU: A 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on Wednesday morning, killing at least 6 people, destroying several houses in the western district of Doti and shaking the Indian capital, New Delhi, officials said.
Bhola Bhatta, deputy superintendent of police in Doti, said five other people were seriously injured when eight houses collapsed, confirming earlier figures shared by Home Ministry official Tulsi Rizal. Police said that the injured have been shifted to a local hospital.
Nepal is still recovering from two major earthquakes in 2015 that killed nearly 9,000 people, destroyed entire towns and centuries-old temples and cost the economy $6 billion.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deoba wrote on Twitter, “Extending heartfelt condolences to the families of those who died in the earthquake”. “I have directed the concerned agencies to arrange for immediate and proper treatment of the injured and victims.”
Nepalese army spokesman Narayan Salwal said a ground support team had been dispatched to the scene and two helicopters were stationed in the nearby towns of Sarkhit and Nepalganj.
Kalpana Shrestha, a senior bureaucrat in Doti district, said details were being gathered from villages near the epicenter and a child was among those buried under the debris.
The Nepal Seismological Center reported the magnitude of the earthquake as 6.6. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) put the magnitude of the earthquake at 5.6.
The epicenter was about 158 ​​kilometers (100 miles) northeast of Pilibhit, a populous city in the neighboring Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, and struck at a depth of 10 kilometers, the EMSC added.
After the earthquake, media reports said tremors were also felt in and around New Delhi, which is 350 km (220 mi) away from Doti.
