More than 1,000 die in Nepal, Tibet, Bangladesh and China after 7.8 magnitude quake

A powerful earthquake struck Nepal today, killing more than 1,000 people across four countries as the violently shaking earth toppled houses, levelled centuries-old temples and triggered avalanches on Mount Everest.

More than 1,000 die in Nepal, Tibet, Bangladesh and China after 7.8 magnitude quake

A powerful earthquake struck Nepal today, killing more than 1,000 people across four countries as the violently shaking earth toppled houses, levelled centuries-old temples and triggered avalanches on Mount Everest.

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A helpline has been set up by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for anybody concerned about Irish citizens in Nepal. Anyone concerned about friends or family in the region can contact the department on 01-4780822.

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It was the worst tremor to hit the country in over 80 years. At least 876 people were confirmed dead in Nepal, according to the police.

Another 20 were killed in India, six in Tibet and two in Bangladesh. Two Chinese citizens died at the Nepal-China border. The death toll is almost certain to rise, said officials.

It was a few minutes before noon when the quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 7.8, began to rumble across the densely populated Kathmandu Valley.

It rippled through the capital Kathmandu and spread in all directions – north toward the Himalayas and Tibet, south to the Ganges plain, east toward the Brahmaputra delta of Bangladesh and west toward the city of Lahore in Pakistan.

A magnitude-6.6 aftershock hit about an hour later, and smaller aftershocks continued to jolt the region for hours. Residents ran out of homes and buildings in panic. Walls tumbled, trees swayed, power lines came crashing down and large cracks opened up on streets and walls. And clouds of dust began to swirl all around.

“Our village has been almost wiped out. Most of the houses are either buried by landslide or damaged by shaking,” said Vim Tamang, a resident of Manglung village near the epicentre. He said half of the village people are either missing or dead. “All the villagers have gathered in the open area. We don’t know what to do. We are feeling helpless,” he said when contacted by telephone.

Meteorologists forecast rain and thunderstorms for Saturday night and Sunday.

Within hours of the quake, hospitals began to fill up with dozens of injured people. Many came to the main hospital in central Kathmandu. Among them was Pushpa Das, a labourer, ran from the house when the first quake struck but could not escape a collapsing wall that injured his arm.

“It was very scary. The earth was moving ... I am waiting for treatment but the (hospital) staff is overwhelmed,” he said. As he spoke dozens more people arrived with injuries, mostly from falling bricks.

Following the quake, Kathmandu’s international airport was shut down.

The quake will put a huge strain on the resources of the poor country best known for Everest, the highest mountain in the world, and its rich Hindu culture. The economy of Nepal, a nation of 27.8 million people, is heavily reliant on tourism, principally trekking and Himalayan mountain climbing.

A mountaineering guide, Ang Tshering, said an avalanche swept the face of Mt Everest after the earthquake, and government officials said at least eight climbers were killed and 30 injured. Their nationalities were not immediately known.

Carsten Lillelund Pedersen, a Dane who is climbing the Everest with a Belgian climber Jelle Veyt, said on his Facebook page that they were at Khumbu Icefall , a rugged area of collapsed ice and snow close to base camp at altitude 5,000 metres (16,500 feet) when the earthquake hit.

He wrote on Facebook that they have started to receive the injured, including one person with the most severe injuries who suffered many fractures.

“He was blown away by the avalanche and broke both legs. For the camps closer to where the avalanche hit, our Sherpas believe that a lot of people may have been buried in their tents,” he wrote in English.

The US Geological Survey put the magnitude of the quake at 7.8. It said the quake hit at 11:56 am local time at Lamjung, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) north-west of Kathmandu. Its depth was only 11 kilometres (seven miles).

The shallower the quake the more destructive power it carries, and witnesses said the trembling and swaying of the earth went on for several minutes.

Saturday’s quake – with the same magnitude as the one that hit San Francisco in 1906 – was about 16 times more powerful than the 7.0 quake that devastated Haiti in 2010.

A major factor in the damage was that the buildings were not built to be quake-proof.

The power of the shocks brought down several buildings in the centre of the capital, the ancient Old Kathmandu, including centuries-old temples and towers. Among them was the nine-story Dharahara Tower, one of Kathmandu’s landmarks built by Nepal’s royal rulers as a watchtower in the 1800s and a UNESCO-recognised historical monument. It was reduced to rubble and there were reports of people trapped underneath.

In Kathmandu, dozens of people gathered in the car park of Norvic International Hospital, where thin mattresses were spread on the ground for patients rushed outside, some wearing hospital pyjamas.

Doctors and nurses hooked up some patients to intravenous drips in the car park, or were giving people oxygen.

The quake also was felt in India’s capital of New Delhi and several other Indian cities.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi called a meeting of top government officials to review the damage and disaster preparedness in parts of India that felt strong tremors.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif offered “all possible help” that Nepal may need.

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