An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 rocked Nepal on Tuesday with strong tremors being felt across the Indian capital New Delhi and surrounding areas. "An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 on the Richter Scale hit Nepal at 2:30 p.m. today," National Center for Seismology (NCS) said. The quake's epicenter was in Nepal at a place 148 km east of Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand, it added. A 5.9-magnitude earthquake jolted Western Nepal on Tuesday, killing one person and damaging a number of houses in the region, officials said. The earthquake, with epicenter in the Mela area of Bajura district in Sudurpaschim province, hit the region at 2:30 p.m. local time, said Lok Bijaya Adhikari, head of the Earthquake Measurement and Research Centre. A 35-year-old woman was killed in Gaumul Rural Municipality-2 when a falling rock hit her while she was cutting grass in the nearby forest, police said. According to provincial police chief, the earthquake damaged a number of houses in Bajura and Bajhang districts. Two houses were destroyed in Ward No. 7 and two other houses in Ward No. 9 of Badimalika Municipality of Bajura district, which is situated 450-km West of Kathmandu. A temple in the municipality also developed cracks, police said. In a tweet in Hindi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, "Tremors were felt in Delhi. I hope all of you are safe." Residents of Delhi-NCR took to social media to share videos of ceiling fans and household objects shaking during the tremors that lasted less than a minute. There have been no reports of damage caused by the earthquake so far. A senior seismologist said the epicenter of the quake was located in the 2,400 km Himalayan Collision Zone that stretches from the Hindukush mountain ranges to as far as present-day Myanmar. The Himalayan Collision Zone is a seismically active region and the 5.8 magnitude tremor was the fourth earthquake along the 2,400 km region in the 24 hours ending at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. A 4.8 magnitude earthquake hit the Cachar region of Assam on Monday at 7:12 p.m. and two quakes of 3.2 and 2.8 magnitudes were reported in Bhutan at 10:55 a.m. and 12:53 p.m. on Tuesday. Western Nepal is frequently hit by earthquakes from mild to moderate intensity. In December 2022, three tremors jolted Western Nepal in quick succession. In April 2015, a devastating earthquake of 7.8-magnitude rocked Nepal, killing nearly 9,000 people and wounding nearly 22,000 others. It also damaged over 800,000 houses and school buildings. — Agencies
