Tuesday, 12 May 2015

Shockwaves from Nepal earthquake felt in New Delhi

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ASHLEY HALL: There's been another big earthquake in Nepal. The magnitude 7.4 quake was centred near Mount Everest.

Reports say buildings have collapsed in the capital Kathmandu. Shockwaves have been felt as far away as the Indian capital, New Delhi.

Our correspondent there is Stephanie March, and she joins us now.

Stephanie, what do you know?

STEPHANIE MARCH: Hi Ashley, well as you mentioned, the quake struck near the base camp of Mount Everest. It was a 7.4 quake. The one that devastated Nepal on April 25th was a 7.8. 

So it's smaller but not by much. We're just getting reports now that, as you mentioned, some buildings have been destroyed, particularly one in Chautara village, which is about a 2.5 hour drive from Kathmandu. And there's reportedly a few people caught in there and there's rescue operations underway. 

So it's still very early. The quake struck just after midday, so around about lunchtime. I just got off the phone to an aid worker who is based there in Kathmandu. He said the situation was just one of absolute panic. There were women running out onto the streets carrying babies crying. 

There were just people absolutely terrified. One man running out of the shower half-dressed. They're just absolutely terrified considering this does bring back memories of what happened and what devastated the country less than a month ago.

ASHLEY HALL: And I'm seeing that there may be some aftershocks coming through at the moment, six-plus magnitude aftershocks. 

STEPHANIE MARCH: That's right, they're expecting a few more to come through, that's what generally happens after a big aftershock like this I understand. The first one we felt here in New Delhi, which as you can imagine, is quite a long way away. The buildings here were shaking, people evacuated from a lot of office buildings in the city and in other cities in northern India. 

So we haven't felt any of the aftershocks here just yet, but I understand that they are being felt there in Nepal. So obviously this will be a real blow for people's morale in Nepal there. They're still recovering, they're still in shock from the earthquake last month. So it's definitely not going to give them much confidence.

And as you mentioned, buildings are collapsing and there may be more injured, there may even be more dead.

ASHLEY HALL: We've been hearing a lot about the difficulty that rescuers have been facing in getting to the outlying parts of Nepal and reaching those people who have been affected by that initial quake, presumably this is going to make it all that much more difficult?

STEPHANIE MARCH: Well that's right. The aid worker I was just speaking to said exactly that. It's going to make it even more difficult, especially if it's triggered landslides, or any other problems like that.

My understanding is, though, it struck near base camp, and base camp was evacuated after the avalanche on April 25. So hopefully there was no-one in that area close to the epicentre of the quake. But you're right, the outlying villages, which have already been struggling to receive aid, some of which still haven't received aid several weeks after the quake - it's just going to make it all the more harder for people to reach them.

ASHLEY HALL: Correspondent Stephanie March in New Delhi, thank you very much.

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