At least 132 people were killed by a 5.6-magnitude earthquake in a remote area of western Nepal on Friday night, authorities said on Saturday, deploying security forces to help with rescue efforts.

The quake was centered 42 km south of Jumla, near the border with Tibet, and was only 18 kilometers deep, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

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"92 people were killed in Jajarkot and 40 in Rukum," Interior Ministry spokesman Narayan Prasad Bhattarai told AFP, referring to the two districts hardest hit by the quake.

National police spokesman Kuber Kathayat said authorities had counted more than 100 wounded in the two districts.

Videos and photographs posted on social media showed locals digging through the rubble of destroyed buildings in the middle of the night in search of survivors.

Mud houses collapsed or were badly damaged and survivors took refuge outside, where the sirens of emergency vehicles could be heard.

The shaking was felt in India's capital, New Delhi, located almost 500 kilometers from the epicenter.

Karnali province police spokesman Gopal Chandra Bhattarai told AFP that a large number of security forces had been deployed to assist in search and rescue efforts.

"The isolation of districts makes it difficult for information to get through," he said. "Some roads were blocked by the damage, but we are trying to reach the area through alternative routes."

The district hospital was filled with residents bringing in people injured by the quake.

Indian Solidarity

Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal travelled to the affected area after expressing "his deep sorrow for the human and physical damage caused by the earthquake".

His Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, said he was "deeply saddened" by the loss of life. "India stands in solidarity with the people of Nepal and stands ready to extend all possible assistance," he added.

Nepal sits on a major geological fault line where the Indian tectonic plate pushes the Eurasian plate upwards, forming the Himalayas, and where earthquakes are common.

Nearly 9,000 people died in Nepal in 2015 when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the country and destroyed more than half a million homes.

The quake destroyed or damaged nearly 8,000 schools, leaving nearly a million children out of school.

It also destroyed hundreds of royal monuments and palaces, including UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Kathmandu Valley, dealing a serious blow to tourism.

Economic losses from the disaster are estimated at $7 billion.

In November 2022, six people were killed in another 5.6-magnitude earthquake in Doti district near Jajarkot.

Indian social media users said at the time that they had noticed the tremor in the northern cities of Lucknow and Patna.

  • Nepal
  • Earthquake in Nepal