Nepal Quake: Hundreds Dead, History Crumbles, Everest Shaken
UPDATE (11:30 a.m. MST) - A top Nepalese police official says at least 1,130 people have been confirmed dead following a powerful earthquake that was centered outside of Kathmandu.
It was not immediately clear how many of those people were in Kathmandu, and how many were in the surrounding area. Deputy Inspector General of Police Komal Singh Bam says that the death toll from Saturday's quake is expected to rise.
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fficials say a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in a densely populated area of Nepal has killed more than 700 people across a swath of four countries, with the death toll expected to keep climbing.
Authorities say the violently shaking earth collapsed houses, leveled centuries-old temples and triggered avalanches in the Himalayas, including Mount Everest, where at least eight bodies have been recovered and an unknown number are missing or injured.
Authorities say at least 688 people are confirmed dead in Nepal. Other deaths occurred in India, Tibet and Bangladesh. Two Chinese citizens died at the Nepal-China border.
Scores of people have been injured in the Himalayan country's worst temblor in over 80 years.
The quake was followed by a magnitude 6.6 aftershock and more are possible.
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An official with Nepal's mountaineering department says the bodies of eight people have been recovered on Mount Everest after the massive earthquake triggered an avalanche.
Gyanendra Shretha says an unknown number of people remain missing or injured.
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Officials say at least 20 people have been killed and dozens more injured in India in a powerful earthquake that struck neighboring Nepal.
A government official in the eastern state of Bihar says at least 14 deaths were reported in seven districts that share a border with Nepal. At least 35 other people were injured in Saturday's magnitude-7.8 quake.
The official, Vyasji, who goes by one name and heads the state's disaster management department, says vacations for all government doctors have been canceled to ensure that anyone injured gets adequate medical care.
Yogeshwar Misra, a government official in Uttar Pradesh state, says at least six deaths were reported there from house collapses triggered by the quake. Thirty other people were injured in the state.