Narayanghat (Nepal) May 2: Exactly a week after the devastating earthquake in Nepal, tremors were felt again in the Gorkha region Saturday triggering landslides as the death toll in last Saturday’s devastating earthquake neared 7,000. Officials here said the tremors were not part of the aftershocks that have been rattling the region over the past week but were in fact a “proper earthquake”.
A 5.1-magnitude aftershock shook Barpak village in Gorkha district near the epicentre of the powerful 7.9-magnitude temblor that had caused widespread destruction. A woman was injured due to the tremor that was preceded by a 4.5-magnitude aftershock, triggering panic among the people.
The second aftershock also led to landslides, adding to the woes of the quake-hit people, many of whom have been forced to stay in the open. A major landslide occurred at Dolalghat between Sindupalchowk and Kawre district here. “No injuries have been reported so far,” said a police official.
The death toll in Nepal’s worst quake in 80 years shot up to over 6,700 and another 14,025 people injured as the government struggled to deal with the massive scale of the disaster.
“The death toll has reached 6,624,” said the home ministry’s national disaster management division but the figure is expected to go up further, with bodies still being pulled out from under mounds of debris in several areas including Miteripul, Chaku, Jhyalebhir, Nayapur, Daklang Paharo and Jhirpu. Nepalese media said 16 bodies have been recovered along the Tatopani stretch of the Araniko Highway. Some foreigners are also believed to be buried in the landslides.
Quake in Andaman
Bhubaneswar: In an aftereffect of the major earthquake that shook neighbouring Nepal, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) Friday detected another earthquake of a magnitude of 5.4 on the Richter scale in the Andaman Island. The epicentre of the earthquake remained 1,235km from Bhubaneswar. However no tremors have been reported from anywhere in the state. PTI