MORE than 150 people have been killed after an earthquake struck remote western Nepal on Friday.
Security forces have been deployed to help rescue efforts in the rugged districts of Jajarkot and West Rukum, 500km (310 miles) west of Kathmandu.
Strong tremors were felt far away in the Nepalese capital and in cities in neighbouring India, including Delhi.
The government said about 375 people had been injured. Jajarkot’s hospital is packed with the wounded.
Some people have had to be airlifted as far as Kathmandu, but officials are worried about getting others out after nightfall.
One survivor, Geethakumari Bista, told the BBC that rescuers saved her elder daughter, but she lost her younger daughter.
“We three were in the same room on the top floor. Everything happened so suddenly. We couldn’t understand what was happening,” she recalled.
After their house collapsed, they were buried in the rubble.
“People shouted around. The armed police came and I shouted: ‘I am alive, too’… First, they rescued my elder daughter by carrying her out and taking her downstairs. Unfortunately, they couldn’t save my younger one. She was 14 years old.”
Three more tremors were felt within an hour of the quake. Local authorities urged people to stay outside for at least 24 hours as minor aftershocks are being reported in the areas.
Video footage on local media showed crumbled facades of multi-storied brick houses. People were pictured digging through rubble in the dark to pull survivors from the remains of collapsed buildings in posts on social media.
Unicef Nepal said that they were assessing the damage and the toll of the disaster on children and families.
Nepal’s Prime Minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, arrived in the affected region on Saturday, after expressing his “deep sorrow” at the loss of life and property wrought by the quake, on social media platform X. He said he had ordered security agencies to immediately launch rescue and relief operations.
A cabinet meeting on Sunday is expected to decide whether to accept foreign assistance for relief and rescue. Officials said many countries, including Nepal’s neighbours China and India, had offered humanitarian help.