A magnitude-7.8 earthquake centered less than 50 miles from Kathmandu rocked Nepal with devastating force Saturday, toppling homes, temples and historic buildings and leaving at least 1,457 people dead, authorities said.

Afterward, whole streets and squares in the nation’s capital and largest city were covered in rubble. Stunned residents stared at temples that were once part of their daily lives and now were flattened to the ground.

Locals and tourists ferreted through mounds of debris in search of survivors. Cheers rose from the piles when people were found alive, but mostly bodies turned up. The injured wound up being treated outside overflowing hospitals, where crowds of people gathered looking for relatives.

Residents, terrorized by a seemingly endless series of aftershocks, huddled in the cold rain overnight for safety. Dozens of bodies were pulled from the nine-story Dharahara tower that came crashing down during the quake. At least 12 bodies were evacuated from a Mount Everest base camp hit by avalanches.

Dharahara-Bhimsen-Tower-after-Earthquake-2015

Death toll likely to rise

The death toll was reported by Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs. But given that the rescue effort is still in its early stages and that people in outlying areas may well have been affected, as well, it seems probable the number will rise.

An estimated 4.6 million people in the region were exposed to tremors from the Nepal earthquake, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said via Twitter. In Nepal, 30 out of 75 districts were affected by the quake.

In neighboring Tibet, roads buckled, buildings collapsed and at least 12 people were killed, China’s state media reported, citing local authorities.

Separately, at least four Chinese citizens in Nepal — two workers with a Chinese company, a tourist and a mountaineer — have been killed, state media reported, citing the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu.

Officials in India confirmed at least 34 deaths in three states from the Nepal quake.

The quake struck Saturday at 11:56 a.m. local time (2:11 a.m. ET), occurred at a depth of 9.3 miles, which is considered shallow and more damaging than a deeper quake. It was reported by people in the area as having lasted a long time. One person said he felt as if he were on a ship in rough seas.

Kathmandu, which sits in a valley surrounded by the Himalayas, has a population of about 1 million.

Siobhan Heanue, a reporter with ABC News Australia, told CNN she was wandering an ancient temple complex at the moment of the earthquake. Several temples collapsed around her, she said.

“It’s not too often you find yourself in a situation where you have to run for your life,” Heanue said, adding that she sought shelter under the table of a cafe.”It was utterly terrifying and, of course, the screams and the chaos of people scrambling for shelter around me in utter confusion and despair.”

source:http://www.joyakosacorner.com/update-on-earthquake-in-nepal-mount-everest-hit-by-avalanche/