6 People Killed in House Collapse After Earthquake Hits Western Nepal

At least six people were killed and several others injured after an earthquake struck western Nepal on Wednesday, according to the police.

The quake occurred at about 2:12 a.m. Nepal time (8:27 p.m. UTC) on Wednesday, with its epicenter located close to a national park in the sparsely populated Doti district, 430 kilometers (267 miles) west of Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu.

The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake as having a magnitude of 5.6 at a depth of about 15.7 kilometers (9.8 miles), while Nepal’s National Seismological Centre recorded a magnitude of 6.6, The Kathmandu Post reported.

Bhola Bhatta, deputy superintendent of police in Doti, said that four children—an 8-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl, and two 14-year-old girls—were among those killed when several houses collapsed in Purichauki rural municipality.

The fatalities also include a 40-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man. Bhatta said that five other people were injured due to the incident and were taken to the hospital, The Kathmandu Post reported.

Tremors were felt in the Indian capital of New Delhi, but no casualties were reported on the Indian side.

Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba expressed his condolences to the victims’ families in a tweet and said that he had instructed the relevant agencies to provide immediate aid to those in the affected areas.

Nepalese army spokesperson Narayan Silwal said that an army ground rescue team had been dispatched to the site, and that two helicopters were on standby in the nearby towns of Surkhet and Nepalgunj.

Nepal is still rebuilding after two major earthquakes in 2015 killed nearly 9,000 people and destroyed whole towns and centuries-old temples. The damage to the economy amounted to $6 billion.

Reuters contributed to this report.