Nepal: Death toll due to earthquake rises to six

KATHMANDU: The death toll from house collapse incident in Nepal followed by subsequent tremors rose to nine on Wednesday, local police informed.

Chief District Officer of Doti, Kalpana Shrestha informed ANI over the phone that five injured are being taken to the hospital.
“Five injured are being taken to the hospital. Dozens of house has been damaged with landslides at various locations across the district,” she said.

As per the officials, among the deceased are one female and two children. However, the identities of casualties are yet to be ascertained The Nepal Army has been mobilised in the affected areas to carry out the search and rescue operations, the officials said.

Earlier local officials had informed that at least three people were confirmed dead after a house collapsed in the Doti district of Nepal, which underwent two earthquakes and an aftershock within a duration of 24 hours.

Chairman of Purbichauki Village Council, Ram Prasad Upadhyay confirmed to ANI on Wednesday that three people died in the incident. Earlier during the early hours on Wednesday, an earthquake of 6.3 magnitudes rocked Nepal, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) reported.

According to NCS, the earthquake occurred at around 2:12 am (local time) in Nepal at a depth of 10 kilometres. The tremors were also felt in India’s capital New Delhi and its surrounding areas. “Earthquake of Magnitude:6.3, Occurred on 09-11-2022, 01:57:24 IST, Lat: 29.24 & Long: 81.06, Depth: 10 Km, Location: Nepal,” NCS reported.

This is the second earthquake in Nepal within 24 hours. Nepal also underwent an earthquake of 4.5 magnitudes on the early morning, of Tuesday, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) reported.

According to NCS, the earthquake occurred 155km NE of Kathmandu, Nepal at a depth of 100 kilometres. “Earthquake of Magnitude:4.5, Occurred on 08-11-2022, 04:37:27 IST, Lat: 28.57 & Long: 86.58, Depth: 100 Km, Location: 155km NE of Kathmandu, Nepal,” tweeted NCS. Earlier on October 19, an earthquake of magnitude 5.1 shook Kathmandu. As per NCS, the earthquake occurred 53 kilometres east of Kathmandu at around 2:52 pm. The depth of the earthquake was 10 km below the ground.

On July 31, an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 took place 147 km ESE of Kathmandu, Nepal at 8.13 am IST around Martim Birta of Khotang district, according to the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Centre (NEMRC).

The depth of the epicentre was monitored at 10 km in eastern Nepal, determined to be at 27.14 degrees North latitude and 86.67 degrees east longitude. Earlier in 2015, a high-intensity earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on the Richter scale struck central Nepal between its capital Kathmandu and city of Pokhara. It is estimated to have killed 8,964 people and injured close to 22,000 people.

The earthquake, known as the Gorkha earthquake, also shook several cities across north India; tremors were also felt in Lahore, Pakistan, Lhasa in Tibet, and Dhaka, Bangladesh. The recent earthquakes in Nepal have caused unprecedented damage to lives and property and have necessitated the demand for well-framed policy measures to manage such disasters.

Nepal suffered its worst recorded earthquake in 1934. It was measured at 8.0 and destroyed the cities of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan.

It has been established that the Indian plate is getting subducted under the Eurasian plate at 5 cm a year. This is responsible for the formation and increasing height of young fold mountains of the Himalayas and also makes the region prone to earthquakes. Disasters like quakes can wreak havoc if preparedness is not ample. (ANI)