The magnitude 7.9 earthquake in Nepal sends “huge boulders” and snow down the mountain, partly burying base camp.
KATHMANDU (REUTERS, AFP) – A shallow earthquake measuring 7.9 magnitude struck west of the ancient Nepali capital of Kathmandu on Saturday, causing buildings to collapse, injuring many and leaving a pall of dust over the city, witnesses said.
The Reuters news agency quoted police in Nepal as saying the death tolll had risen to 449 from 108 earlier reported based on initial estimates.
Casualties were also reported in neighbouring India and Bangladesh.
The numbers, however, were expected to rise as Kathmandu’s decrepit buildings, criss-crossed by narrow alleys, are home to large families. A 1934 quake of magnitude 8.3 in the impoverished Himalayan nation killed over 8,500 people.
There were also reports of an avalanche at Mount Everest’s base camp in Nepal where scores of mountaineers have gathered at the start of the annual climbing season.
The quake was the most powerful to hit the impoverished Himalayan nation in 81 years. A shallow quake is usually more dangerous because the amount of energy released is focused over a smaller area. A Nepal police spokesman said most of the deaths were from the Kathmandu Valley. There was little information coming from the outlying areas of the mountainous country and helicopters were circling overheard to get a sense of the damage.
At the main hospital in Kathmandu, people with broken limbs and arms were being rushed in for treatment. It was unclear how many people were injured.
A girl died after a statue fell on her in a park in Kathmandu, a witness said, while another died in India when her house collapsed.
An historic tower built in the 19th century in Kathmandu collapsed, trapping at least 50 people, Nepal media reported.
The Dharara Tower, built in 1832, had been open to visitors for the last 10 years and had a viewing balcony on its eighth floor. One body was removed from the tower and a second lay further up the road, a Reuters witness said.
A Reuters reporter in Kathmandu said he had seen some buildings collapsed and walls of several houses reduced to rubble. “Everyone is out in the streets, people are rushing to the hospital,” the reporter said.
The city is home to ancient, wooden Hindu temples. Photographs posted online showed buildings left in rubble, large cracks along roads and residents sitting in the street holding babies.
Mountaineer Alex Gavan tweeted from Mount Pumori, about 8 km west of Mount Everest, that the quake had caused an avalanche on Everest.
“Everest base camp huge earthquake then huge avalanche from pumori. Running for life from my tent. Unhurt. Many many people up the mountain,” tweeted Gavan.
Tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi and other northern cities in India, with reports of tremors lasting almost one minute.
“Massive tremors have been felt here in Delhi and several other parts of India,” said a newsreader on NDTV in Delhi. “You can see pictures of our Delhi studios, where the windows rattled and everything shook for a very long time, for a minute perhaps or longer,” she said as footage showed studio ceiling camera lights shaking.
A police officer in the control room of neighbouring Indian state of Bihar said the phone lines were jammed with callers from across the heavily populated state.
“We don’t know about the casualties, we are flooded with calls.”
The US Geological Survey said the quake, initially measured at 7.7 but upgraded to 7.9 magnitude, struck 80 km east of Pokhara. It was only 2 km deep.
“We are in the process of finding more information and are working to reach out to those affected, both at home & in Nepal,” tweeted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi convened a high-level meeting with ministers and top officials to assess the situation. There were no preliminary reports of damage anywhere in India, Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the Press Trust of India.
Nepal emerged in 2006 from a civil war between Maoists rebels and the state that left 17,000 dead. Nepal abolished the monarchy in 2008 and the Maoists laid down their arms.
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