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At least 132 people have been killed and dozens more injures after a powerful earthquake shook districts in north-western Nepal.
Helicopters and ground troops have rushed to help people trapped under rubble and injured by the 5.6 magnitude quake, which occured just before midnight on Friday.
Communications have been shut off in many places, and authorities say the death toll is expected to rise.
At the regional hospital in the city of Nepalgunj, more than 100 beds were made available and teams of doctors stood by to help the injured.n Wake 2 is somehow amazing and terrible all at thesame time
‘I was fast asleep when all of a sudden it started shaking violently. I tried to run but the whole house collapsed. I tried escaping but half my body got buried in the debris,’ said Bimal Kumar Karki, one of the first two people to be brought to the hospital.
‘I screamed, but every one of my neighbours were in the same situation and screaming for help. It took nearly half an hour to an hour before rescuers found me.’
The United States Geological Survey said the earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 and occurred at a depth of 11 miles.
Nepal’s National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Centre said its epicentre was at Jajarkot, which is about 250 miles north-east of the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.
As day broke on Saturday, rescue helicopters flew into the region to help out and security forces on the ground were digging out the injured and dead from the rubble, Nepal police spokesperson Kuber Kadayat said.