At Least 157 Dead in Nepal Earthquake

Damaged houses lie in ruins, in the aftermath of an earthquake at Pipaldanda village of Jajarkot district on November 4, 2023. (AFP)
Damaged houses lie in ruins, in the aftermath of an earthquake at Pipaldanda village of Jajarkot district on November 4, 2023. (AFP)
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At Least 157 Dead in Nepal Earthquake

Damaged houses lie in ruins, in the aftermath of an earthquake at Pipaldanda village of Jajarkot district on November 4, 2023. (AFP)
Damaged houses lie in ruins, in the aftermath of an earthquake at Pipaldanda village of Jajarkot district on November 4, 2023. (AFP)

At least 157 people were killed in an overnight earthquake that struck a remote pocket of Nepal, officials said Saturday, as security forces rushed to assist with rescue efforts.  

The force of the 5.6-magnitude tremor jolted households awake and flattened mud houses in communities across isolated western districts of the Himalayan republic late Friday.  

"There was a very big noise when the houses came down. It felt like a big explosion," Shiva Prasad Sharma, 65, told AFP from outside the destroyed remnants of his home in Jajarkot, the district hit worst by the quake.

"I thought we were going to die," he added. "No one has anything left. There are no houses left to stay in".

Locals frantically dug through rubble in the dark to pull survivors from the wreckage of collapsed homes and buildings, as others crouched outside for safety.  

The quake was felt as far away as India's capital New Delhi, nearly 500 kilometers (310 miles) from the epicenter.  

"The toll from the quake has reached 157 -- 105 in Jajarkot and 52 in Rukum," national police spokesman Kuber Kathayat told AFP.  

Another 199 were injured in the quake, he added.  

Home ministry spokesman Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said the toll was unlikely to significantly increase.  

"We are now in touch with all areas," he told AFP. "It is possible some bodies might still be found under the rubble."

Security forces were deployed on foot and in helicopters to assist with search and rescue operations.  

"The remoteness of the districts makes it difficult for information to get through," Karnali Province police spokesman Gopal Chandra Bhattarai told AFP.  

"Some roads had been blocked by damage, but we are trying to reach the area through alternate routes."  

Dozens of survivors with fractures and head injuries were raced for treatment to a hospital in Nepalgunj, a small city near the Indian border.  

"It came when we were sleeping," Kamala Oli, a woman cradling her infant child at a hospital treating survivors, told AFP.  

"There were three of us in the house. Only two of us lived," she added, without giving further details.  

'Human and physical damages'

Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal arrived at the site of the quake on Saturday after expressing his "deep sorrow over the human and physical damage".  

"The government is serious about providing relief to victims and treating the injured," he said.  

Neighboring India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "deeply saddened" by the loss of lives.  

"India stands in solidarity with the people of Nepal and is ready to extend all possible assistance," he added.  

Nepal lies on a major geological faultline where the Indian tectonic plate pushes up into the Eurasian plate, forming the Himalayas, and earthquakes are a regular occurrence.  

Nearly 9,000 people died and more than 22,000 were injured in 2015 when a 7.8-magnitude quake struck Nepal, destroying more than half a million homes.  

It damaged or destroyed nearly 8,000 schools, leaving almost one million children without classrooms.  

Hundreds of monuments and royal palaces -- including the Kathmandu Valley's UNESCO World Heritage sites -- that had drawn visitors from around the world were destroyed in a major blow to tourism.  

Six people also died in November last year when a 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck Doti district, near Jajarkot.  

Friday's quake was followed several hours later by an aftershock in the same area with a 4.0 magnitude, the US Geological Survey said.



Suspected North Korean Hypersonic Missile Exploded, South Korea Says 

Contrails believed to be created by a North Korean missile are observed over seas off Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (Yonhap via AP)
Contrails believed to be created by a North Korean missile are observed over seas off Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (Yonhap via AP)
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Suspected North Korean Hypersonic Missile Exploded, South Korea Says 

Contrails believed to be created by a North Korean missile are observed over seas off Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (Yonhap via AP)
Contrails believed to be created by a North Korean missile are observed over seas off Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (Yonhap via AP)

A suspected hypersonic missile launched by North Korea exploded in flight on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, a development that comes as North Korea is protesting the regional deployment of a US aircraft carrier for a trilateral military drill with South Korea and Japan.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that North Korea launched a ballistic missile from its capital region around 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday. It said the missile was fired toward the North’s eastern waters, but the launch ended in failure.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff later told South Korean journalists that the missile blew up as it flew over the waters of the North's eastern coastal Wonsan city. It said the fragments of the missile were scattered in the waters, up to 250 kilometers (155 miles) away from the launch site. No damages were immediately reported.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff suspected the weapon is a solid-fueled hypersonic missile. It said Wednesday's launch spewed larger amounts of smoke than normal launches because of a possible engine fault. It said the test was probably aimed to improve the capacity of a hypersonic weapons system.

The contents of the background briefing was shared with foreign media.

The US Indo-Pacific Command said it condemns the North's launch though it didn't pose an immediate threat to the US territory or its allies. It said the US commitments to the defense of South Korea and Japan “remain ironclad.”

Japan’s Defense Ministry said earlier Wednesday that it also detected a suspected ballistic missile launch by North Korea.

Since 2021, North Korea has performed a series of hypersonic missile tests in an apparent bid to penetrate its rivals' missile defense shields. But foreign experts question if North Korean hypersonic vehicles have proved their desired speed and maneuverability during test-flights.

In recent years, North Korea has also been pushing to develop more weapons with solid propellants, Such propellants make launches harder to detect than liquid-propellant missiles, which must be fueled before liftoff.

The North’s reported launch also came as the rival Koreas are engaged in Cold War-style, psychological campaigns such as balloon flying and loudspeaker broadcasts in past weeks.

South Korea said Tuesday night that North Korea floated huge balloons carrying trash across the border for a second consecutive day. South Korean media reported Wednesday that about 100 North Korean balloons with bags of waste papers eventually fell on South Korean territory.

North Korea has conducted a series of trash-carrying balloon launches toward South Korea since late May in what it calls a tit-for-tat response to South Korean activists flying political leaflets via their own balloons. On June 9, South Korea briefly restarted propaganda broadcasts from its border loudspeakers for the first time in years in response. South Korea's military said Monday said it was ready to turn on its loudspeakers again.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt arrived in South Korea on Saturday and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol boarded the carrier on Tuesday — the first sitting South Korean president to board a US aircraft carrier since 1994.

Yoon told American and South Korean troops on the carrier that their countries’ alliance is the world’s greatest and can defeat any enemy. He said the US carrier is to leave Wednesday for the South Korea-US-Japan drill, dubbed “Freedom Edge.” The training is aimed at sharpening the countries’ combined response in various areas of operation, including air, sea and cyberspace.

North Korea’s vice defense minister, Kim Kang Il, on Monday called the US aircraft carrier’s deployment “reckless” and “dangerous.” North Korea has previously called major US-South Korean drills invasion rehearsals and reacted with missile tests.

Seoul officials said the upcoming South Korea-US-Japan training is meant to strengthen the three countries' response capabilities against North Korea's evolving nuclear threats at a time when the North is advancing its military partnerships with Russia.

During a summit in Pyongyang last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a deal requiring each country to provide aid if attacked and vowed to boost other cooperation. Observers say the accord represents the strongest connection between the two countries since the end of the Cold War.

The United States and its partners believe North Korea has been providing Russia with much-needed conventional arms for its war in Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance.

North Korea’s reported missile launch is its first weapons demonstrations since Kim Jong Un on May 30 supervised the firing of nuclear-capable multiple rocket launchers to simulate a preemptive attack on South Korea. The drill came days after North Korea’s attempt to put its second spy satellite into orbit ended in failure, with its rocket carrying that satellite exploding in mid-air soon after liftoff.

Since 2022, North Korea has sharply increased the pace of weapons tests to increase its nuclear attack capabilities to cope with what it calls a deepening US military threat. Foreign experts say North Korea eventually aims to use its larger nuclear arsenal to wrest greater concessions from the US when diplomacy resumes.