About two earthquakes rocked western Nepal in South Asia on Tuesday night, leaving no fewer than 17 people severely injured, damaging homes and triggering a landslide that has now blocked a major highway, authorities revealed.
Interior ministry official, Rama Acharya, told reporters that the landslide after the quakes of magnitude 6.3 and 5.3 in the district of Bajhang, bordering India, blocked the road to the southern plains.
The temblors, centred in Talkot and Chainpur, struck at an interval which lasted for approximately 30 minutes.
Tremors from the quakes were felt as far away as the Indian capital of New Delhi, where people rushed out of their homes and office buildings in case the structures were compromised. There were no immediate reports of damage.
Police official Dipesh Chaudhary said 17 people – 11 women and six men – were injured and were being treated in hospital. One woman was missing after being engulfed by a landslide triggered by the quake, he said.
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One of the injured people was hit by a falling object, told newsmen that Narayan Pandey, the top district official that some homes in Chainpur, a town in the district had collapsed.
According to officials, that the quakes triggered a landslide, which buried a major highway in the Bajhang District that is a key thoroughfare to surrounding regions. Aftershocks continued after the initial earthquakes, hindering the cleanup of the landslide.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that sometime in late April of 2015, a severe earthquake struck central Nepal near the city of Kathmandu, resulting in approximately 9,000 fatalities and thousands of injuries. The initial quake was registered at a magnitude of 7.8 and lasted approximately 20 seconds. Extensive damage occurred across the region, including the destruction of over 600,000 homes and structures in Kathmandu and nearby towns.