Earthquake in western Nepal kills at least 37

KATHMANDU, Nepal — A magnitude 6.4 earthquake shook northwestern Nepal Friday night, killing at least 37 people and injuring dozens of others, officials said.

As rescuers searched the mountain villages where the quake struck, officials warned that the death toll was expected to rise. They noted that communications with many of the affected areas had been lost.

The earthquake killed at least 20 people in the Rukum district, where scores of houses collapsed, a police official, Narvaraj Bhattarai, said by phone.

In the neighboring Jajarkot district, 17 people were killed, according to government official Harish Chandra Sharma.

Nepal’s National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Center measured the earthquake at a magnitude of 6.4 and said the epicenter was in Jajarkot, Karnali province. Jajarkot is located about 500 kilometers west of the capital Kathmandu.

At least 20 people in Jajarkot have been hospitalized with injuries, Suresh Sunar, a district official, told Reuters.

“I am out in the open myself,” Mr Sunar told Reuters by telephone. “We are collecting details but due to cold and night it is difficult to get information from remote areas. We have mobilized rescue personnel.”

The earthquake occurred just before midnight, when many people were sleeping at home. Tremors were also felt in the Indian capital New Delhi.

Earthquakes are common in mountainous Nepal. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake in 2015 killed about 9,000 people and damaged about a million structures.