5 killed, 60 injured in quake in Nepal

Kathmandu: At least five people were killed and over 60 injured when a powerful earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale rocked Nepal at around 1825 last evening.
The epicentre of the earthquake was between Taplejung, eastern Nepal, and the Indian state of Sikkim, where 14 aftershocks of varying magnitudes were recorded in the wake, Chief of National Seismological Centre Som Nath Sapkota said.
The tremor lasted for nearly a minute, it is said.
Five people were killed in the capital city Kathmandu and Sunsari district in eastern Nepal.
The Home Ministry stated that at least 60 people in the capital were injured in stampedes while jumping off buildings.
Ten people were reported to have been died in India.
Sajan Shrestha and his daughter and another motorcyclist died in Kathmandu when the compound wall of British embassy, near Indian embassy collapsed in the tremor while in Dharan of Sunsari district, Santosh Pariyar and five-year-old Bimal Pariyar died when the ceiling of their house caved in due to the earthquake.
Likewise, two inmates were injured in a stampede at Bhadragol jail in Dillibazaar, Kathmandu, following the tremors. The roof of jail is said to have cracked in the tremor.
In Manthali of Ramechhap district, 15 houses were damaged by the tremor. No human casualty was reported. In Taplejung, the district prison building was damaged. In Sankhuwasabha, the earthquake damaged 16 buildings, including the District Police Office, the local Rastriya Banijya Bank branch, the District Development Committee, Nepal Red Cross and an Armed Police Force base camp.
A police office in Dhanusha was also damaged.
Nepal is an earthquake prone zone where many big earthquake had occured in the past killing many people and damaging property of millions of rupees.
More than 8,000 people had lost their lives in the 1934 earthquake measuring 8.4 on the Richter scale. More than 200,000 houses were damaged and destroyed in that quake.
Another major earthquake of a magnitude of 6.6 on the Richter scale had struck the country in 1988, causing the loss of 721 lives and damaging 65,000 houses.
In a report jointly published by the United Nations and the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery in 2004, Nepal was ranked as the 11th most earthquake-prone country in the world. In terms of human casualty risk, Kathmandu is billed as the most risk-prone area in the world.
“Altogether 58 houses were destroyed in the country with 36 in the eastern region, 10 in Kathmandu and 12 in the rest of central region,” said chief of the Natural Disaster Disaster Management Division Shankar Koirala.
The National Seismological Center said the risk of an immediate big quake has been greatly reduced by 32 subsequent small aftershocks (till 10 pm yesterday) and urged the common people to not panic.
“There is always a risk of a big quake if there are no aftershocks but we recorded 32 aftershocks including two of 4.8 magnitude on Richter scale and it has greatly reduced the threat of a bigger quake,” Technical Officer at the center Umesh Prasad Gautam is quoted as saying.