Dozens killed after magnitude-7.3 earthquake strikes Nepal

At least 37 people were killed Tuesday after a major earthquake struck Nepal, triggering landslides and toppling buildings less than three weeks after the Himalayan nation was ravaged by its worst quake in decades.

 

Tuesday’s magnitude-7.3 earthquake was centered near the Chinese border between Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, and Mt. Everest. It was followed closely by at least five aftershocks measuring from magnitude-5.6 to magnitude-6.3.

 

Nepal’s Home Ministry reported at least 42 deaths but later lowered the toll to 37. Meanwhile, it said at least 1,139 people had been injured in Nepal. In neighboring India, at least 16 people were confirmed dead after rooftops or walls collapsed onto them, according to India’s Home Ministry. Chinese media reported one death in Tibet.

 

An official with the International Organization for Migration told the Associated Press a number of buildings collapsed in the isolated town of Chautara in central Nepal after the earthquake, killing at least 4 people.

 

Information was slow to reach the capital, Kathmandu, but officials and aid workers said they expected the death toll to almost certainly rise.

 

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