The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck Nepal on Saturday has risen to 688, a senior home ministry official told Reuters, with 181 people killed in the capital Kathmandu.

The quake measuring 7.9 is the strongest to hit the country in 81 years.

At least 26 people are also known to have died in India, including 17 in the eastern state of Bihar, while buildings in the capital New Delhi had to be evacuated.