(Reuters) – The Himalayan country of Nepal was hit by an earthquake on Friday in which 128 people were killed and dozens injured, with officials fearing the toll could rise.
The poor, mountainous nation wedged between Asian giants China and India has been hit by quakes often, with the deadliest recorded in 2015 when about 9,000 people were killed in two earthquakes.
Whole towns, centuries-old temples and other historic sites were reduced to rubble then, with more than 1 million houses destroyed, at a cost to the economy of $6 billion.
Below are details of Nepal’s deadly quakes since 2015.
NOV 3, 2023
At least 128 people were killed and dozens injured when a strong earthquake struck the western area of Jajarkot. Houses in the area collapsed and buildings as far away as capital New Delhi in neighbouring India shook. The German Research Centre for Geosciences measured the quake at magnitude 5.7, while the U.S. Geological Survey pegged it at 5.6.
OCT 3, 2023
Two earthquakes rocked western Nepal, injuring 17 people, damaging homes and triggering a landslide that blocked a major highway. The landslide after the quakes of magnitude 6.3 and 5.3 in the district of Bajhang, bordering India, blocked the road to the southern plains.
JAN 24, 2023
At least one person died and more than two dozen houses were damaged in a remote Nepalese district after an earthquake of magnitude 5.6. Tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi.
NOV 12, 2022
An earthquake of magnitude 5.4 struck Nepal, shaking houses in the Himalayan country and India.
NOV 9, 2022
An earthquake in western Nepal killed at least six villagers, four of them children, as the tremor destroyed mud and brick houses in remote communities living in the foothills of the Himalayas.
SEPT 16, 2020
An earthquake measuring magnitude 6 struck Nepal and tremors caused by the quake were felt in the capital, Kathmandu.
APRIL AND MAY 2015
The worst earthquake in Nepal’s history struck at four minutes to midday on April 25. It measured magnitude 7.8 and was followed by a second tremor 17 days later, killing 9,000 people in total.
The previous deadliest earthquake to strike the country, in 1934, killed at least 8,519 in Nepal, as well as thousands more in India.
(Compiled by YP Rajesh in New Delhi; Editing by Jamie Freed)
