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by Our Foreign Desk
A SECOND earthquake hit Nepal yesterday, killing at least 42 people and injuring over at thousand.
The magnitude-7.3 quake triggered landslides and toppled buildings in the Himalayan nation still struggling to recover from last month’s disaster, which killed more than 8,000 people.
However, yesterday’s event was deeper underground than last month’s at 11.5 miles beneath the surface, mercifully limiting the extent of death and destruction.
It was followed by at least six strong aftershocks.
Kathmandu resident Sulav Singh said he had rushed out into the street with his daughter.
“I thought I was going to die this time. Things were just getting back to normal and we get this one,” he told reporters.
UN children’s agency Unicef official Rose Foley said: “The shaking seemed to go on and on. It felt like being on a boat in rough seas.”
She added: “We’re thinking about children across the country, and who are already suffering. This could make them even more vulnerable.”
Rescue helicopters were immediately sent to the Sindhupalchowk and Dolkha districts north-east of the capital.
International Organisation for Migration spokesman Paul Dillion said that several buildings had collapsed in the small Sindhupalchowk town of Chautara and that at least four people had been killed there.
A rescue team was searching for survivors and the Norwegian Red Cross said its 60-bed field hospital in Chautara had received casualties.
“People are terribly scared. Everyone ran out in the streets because they are afraid of being inside the houses,” said secretary-general Asne Havnelid.
Indian embassy spokesman Abhay Kumar that said some buildings in Kathmandu collapsed, but he gave no further details about how many or where they were.
The shocks were felt in neighbouring China in the Jilong and Zhangmu districts of Tibet province.
Jilong county government vice-chief Wang Wenxiang said that “rocks fell from the mountains” and that “there might be some houses collapsed or damaged. We are now checking on the condition of the people.”
