A
deadly magnitude 7.3 earthquake has struck Nepal, two weeks after a
devastating quake killed more than 8,000 people in the Himalayan nation,
the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has reported.
Officials said so far, at least 42 people had been killed and 1,117
injured in the new quake in Nepal, which the USGS initially reported as
magnitude 7.1, before later upgrading it to magnitude 7.3.
In addition, the national disaster management authority in India said 17 died there.
The quake, which struck 18km southeast of Kodari, near the base camp
for Mt Everest, was measured at a shallow depth of about 18km. A series
of aftershocks - including one 6.3 magnitude tremor - later hit in the
same area, the USGS reported.
At least 19 buildings have collapsed, officials said, including 10 in Kathmandu.
Police issued a public warning, calling for people to stay in open
areas and to send text messages instead of making calls, to prevent the
network from becoming jammed.
Al Jazeera's Annette Ekin, reporting from Kathmandu, said that there was "utter panic" in the capital following the quake.
"The earth just started rolling. Everyone ran out onto the streets
and all of the shops are now shuttered," she said, adding that the quake
seemed to last about 30 seconds.
A woman who works for a finance company in Thamel, in Kathmandu, told
Al Jazeera that she had clung to a pillar inside her building when the
quake struck.
"I was screaming. It felt like the house was falling," she said.
Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, also reporting from Kathmandu, said the
quake was so powerful that it made the building he was in "feel like
jelly".
Tremors were felt in northern parts of neighbouring India, Afghanistan and Indonesia.
Two hours after the quake struck, our correspondent Ekin said that no one in Kathmandu appeared willing to go back indoors.
"Everyone is outside in the streets. At my hotel, all of the staff
and guests are sitting around outside, waiting for more information,"
she said.
Ekin later went to Kathmandu's Nayabazar district, where a four-storey building had collapsed.
While there were unconfirmed reports of people trapped under the
rubble, she said authorities outside the building said no one had been
killed.
Kathmandu's airport has been closed, following the quake.
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck on April 25, killing at least 8,046 people and injuring more than 17,800.
Nepal earthquake: Dozens die in new tremor near Everest
A
major earthquake has struck eastern Nepal, near Mount Everest, two
weeks after more than 8,000 people died in a devastating quake.
At least 37 people have been killed and more than 1,000 injured, officials say. At least 17 have also died in India.
The
latest earthquake hit near the town of Namche Bazaar and sent thousands
of panicked residents on to the streets of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu. It had a magnitude of 7.3, compared with the 7.8 of the 25 April quake.
The
latest quake struck at 12:35 Nepali time (06:50 GMT) and was centred
about 76km (47 miles) east of Kathmandu, in a rural area close to the
Chinese border.
The quake was felt in northern India, Tibet and
Bangladesh. India's home ministry said 16 people had been killed in the
state of Bihar, and one more in Uttar Pradesh. Officials in China said
one person was confirmed dead in Tibet. Nepal quake as it happened Read eyewitnesses' account of the earthquake
Rescue
helicopters have been sent to districts east of Kathmandu, that are
believed to be worst hit. Police in Charikot, 80km north-east of the
capital, said 20 people had died there.
A spokesman for Nepal's government told the BBC that 31 of the country's 75 districts had been affected.
Prime
Minister Sushil Koirala called for "courage and patience" and urged all
those who had assisted Nepal since the 25 April quake "to once again
extend your helping hand".
At the scene: Olivia Lang, BBC News, Kathmandu
A
frantic rescue effort took place in the Gongabu area of Kathmandu,
where a four-storey building collapsed, falling on to an internet shop.
Soldiers
from the Nepali army and international rescue teams stood amid the
destruction, pulling away the rubble as they searched for two children.
An eyewitness said he believed the children were between nine and 13
years old, and he'd seen them in the area shortly before the building
came crashing down.
A tense crowd stood by, watching the rescue workers balance precariously on the debris.
One rescue worker said a dog they had brought there hadn't picked up a scent, but that they would continue the search. The
BBC's Yogita Limaye, who was in Nepal's mountains when the latest
earthquake struck, said: "The earth shook and it shook for a pretty long
time.
"I can completely understand the sense of panic. We have
been seeing tremors - it's been two-and-a-half weeks since the first
quake. But this one really felt like it went on for a really long time.
People have been terrified."
At
least four people were killed in the town of Chautara, east of
Kathmandu, where a number of buildings are reported to have collapsed.
The International Organisation for Migration said bodies were being pulled from rubble there.
Krishna Gyawali, the chief district officer for Chautara, said there had been a number of landslides.
Landslides
were also reported by Save the Children in Sindhupalchok and Dolakha. A
spokeswoman told the BBC its staff had been "dodging huge rocks rolling
off the hillside". Home
Minister Bam Dev Gautam said: "Many houses have collapsed in Dolakha...
there is a chance that the number of dead from the district will go
up."
The BBC's Navin Singh Khadka says the new earthquake has
brought down more houses and lodges in the Everest region but that local
officials report very few tourists are still in the area following the
25 April quake.
A nurse in Namche Bazaar, Rhita Doma Sherpa, told
Reuters: "The school building is cracked and bits of it, I can see, they
have collapsed. It was lunchtime. All the kids were outside."
The
latest quake struck at a depth of 15km (9.3 miles), according to the US
Geological Survey - the same depth as the April quake. Shallow tremors
are more likely to cause greater damage at the surface.
Tuesday's earthquake is likely to be one of the largest to hit Nepal, which has suffered hundreds of aftershocks since 25 April.
More buildings were brought down in Kathmandu following the damage of the 25 April quake
When the earthquake struck, people in Kathmandu ran out on to the streets
Rescuers work amid the latest quake damage in Kathmandu
Quake damage on Tuesday in Sankhu, 10km east of the capital
The 7.3 quake was followed by six aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or higher.
One tremor that hit 30 minutes later, centred on the district of Ramechhap, east of Kathmandu, had a magnitude of 6.3.
Analysis: Jonathan Amos, science correspondent, BBC News
Scientists are already producing some preliminary analyses of Tuesday's quake.
The
epicentre this time is about 80km (50 miles) east-north-east of
Kathmandu, halfway to Everest. On 25 April, the big quake began 80km to
the north-west of the capital.
In April, we saw the fault boundary
rupture eastwards for 150km (93 miles). And the immediate assessment
suggests Tuesday's tremor has occurred right at the eastern edge of this
failure.
In that context, this second earthquake was almost
certainly triggered by the stress changes caused by the first one.
Indeed, the US Geological Survey had a forecast for an aftershock in
this general area.
Its modelling suggested there was 1-in-200
chance of a M7-7.8 event occurring this week. So, not highly probable,
but certainly possible.
Quake experts often talk about "seismic
gaps", which refer to segments of faults that are, to some extent,
overdue a quake. Tuesday's big tremor may well have filled a hole
between what we saw on 25 April and some historic events - such as those
in 1934, that occurred further still to the east.
Unsettled Earth - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32701385
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