Not again! Second major quake hits Nepal (UPDATED)

The death toll is 65 in Nepal, 17 in India and rising after a 7.3-magnitude earthquake hit the devastated area on Tuesday, sending terrified residents running into the streets in the capital Kathmandu, according to witnesses and the US Geological Survey.

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Wednesday morning update

Here is a short update. There should be much more information coming out of Nepal when the sun rises there shortly.

10:10  The Associated Press (AP), quoting Nepal's Home (Interior) Ministry, says the death toll has now reached 65 with at least 2,000 more injured.

Dozens dead as new quake hits shattered Nepal

A new earthquake and powerful aftershocks killed dozens of people and brought fresh terror to a traumatised Nepal on Tuesday as buildings already damaged in a monster quake last month came tumbling down.

Weeks after the country's deadliest quake in more than 80 years, terrified residents once again fled into the streets as houses collapsed and landslides blocked roads, hampering the relief effort.

Authorities in Nepal said at least 48 people were killed and more than 1,100 injured, while 17 people also died across the border in northern India.

The 7.3-magnitude quake struck at 12:35 pm, some 76 kilometres (47 miles) east of Kathmandu, the US Geological Survey said, after a 7.8-magnitude quake on April 25 killed more than 8,000 people.

Tuesday's quake was felt as far away as New Delhi, and caused buildings to collapse in Tibet in neighbouring China, killing at least one person there.

Evening update

CNN has just reported (20:00 our time) that the death toll has already reached 36 (now 48) in Nepal and 17 in India (one death just reported in Tibet) and at least 1,100 have been injured. The US Geological Survey says, however, that a quake this magnitude is likely to kill up to 1,000. CNN's Chad Myers says that the quake 16 days ago created the stress that was released today, but it is best to call this an "earthquake" rather than an "aftershock. Myers said the first quake was like a zipper opening up in the ground and the zipper has opened further in the today's quake. He said that more aftershocks in the 6.0 range are virtually certain. Landslides have already occurred, but the coming monsoon season is likely to cause many more as torrential rain will likely hit the area.

7.3-magnitude quake hits devastated Nepal: USGS

Kathmandu, May 12, 2015, AFP – A 7.3-magnitude earthquake hit devastated Nepal on Tuesday, sending terrified residents running into the streets in the capital Kathmandu, according to witnesses and the US Geological Survey.

The quake struck at 12:35pm local time in the Himalayan nation some 76 kilometres (47 miles) east of Kathmandu, more than two weeks after a 7.8-magnitude quake which killed more than 8,000 people.

The latest quake hit at a depth of 15.0 kilometres (now revised to 18.5kms which is good news because that should mean less damage than the previous quate which was 15kms deep), according to the USGS. It had earlier measured the quake at 7.4.

The tremors in Kathmandu lasted close to a minute according to an AFP correspondent in the city, with the ground swaying. Sirens could be heard soon afterwards although there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The quake was also felt some 1,000 kilometres away in the Indian capital New Delhi where buildings shook and office workers evacuated.

Other cities in northern India were also rocked by the quake, including Bihar where television footage showed residents gathering on the streets.

Another 5.6-magnitude aftershock hit minutes later in Nepal, according to the USGS.

Nepalese authorities ordered the closure of Kathmandu airport on Tuesday after the new earthquake which sparked panic in the capital.

"The airport is closed for operations right now," Birendra Prasad Shrestha, manager at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport, told AFP.

From Reuters

Four dead in Nepal's Chautara after quake destroys buildings

NEW DELHI, May 12 (Reuters) – Four people were killed in Chautara, Nepal, after an earthquake on Tuesday destroyed several buildings, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration said.
"The situation in Chautara is that several buildings in the town have collapsed," spokesman Paul Dillon told Reuters by telephone from Kathmandu. "There are four fatalities."

The IOM, an intergovernmental group, deployed a team to Chautara after a devastating earthquake on April 25 killed more than 8,000 people in Nepal.

Chautara is capital of Sindhupalchowk district, which suffered the heaviest death toll in last month's 7.8 magnitude quake.

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