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Today's Paper | December 27, 2024

Updated 03 Oct, 2023 06:00pm

Nepal hit by two earthquakes, injuring 11 and triggering landslide

Two earthquakes rocked western Nepal on Tuesday, injuring 11 people, damaging homes and triggering a landslide that blocked a major highway, authorities said.

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, interior ministry official Rama Acharya told Reuters.

The quakes, centred in Talkot and Chainpur, struck at an interval of about 30 minutes.

Police official Bharat Bahadur Shah said 11 people — seven women and four men — were injured and were being treated in hospital. One woman was missing after being hit by another landslip triggered by the quake, he said.

One of the injured people was hit by a falling object, said Narayan Pandey, the top district official. Some homes in Chainpur, a town in the district, collapsed.

They tremors of the quakes felt were as far away as the Indian capital of New Delhi, where people rushed out of houses and office blocks. There were no immediate reports of damage.

The Hindustan Times reported that the earthquake lasted for more than 40 seconds and triggered panic among residents who rushed out of their houses.

The NDTV said tremors were also felt in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow, Hapur, and Amroha as well as parts of Uttarakhand.

In a statement, the Delhi police warned citizens against using elevators and told them to vacate buildings.

A day earlier, a Dutch research organisation had predicted a powerful earthquake in Pakistan. The Solar System Geometry Survey (SSGS) of the Netherlands, made a prediction of a powerful earthquake along the Chaman fault line, in Balochistan.

However, the claims of the Dutch institute have been refuted by scientists, seismologists and geologists

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