Over 120 people were killed, while at least 140 others were injured after a strong earthquake hit a remote pocket of Nepal, officials said early on November 4.

Moderate tremors were felt as far away as India’s capital New Delhi, nearly 500 kilometres from the quake’s epicentre.

Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ headed towards the incident site with a medical team Saturday morning. Both Nepal Army and Nepal Police personnel have been mobilized to carry out rescue works, officials said.

Nepal lies on a major geological faultline where the Indian tectonic plate pushes up into the Eurasian plate, forming the Himalayas, and earthquakes are a regular occurrence.

Nearly 9,000 people died in 2015 when a 7.8-magnitude quake struck Nepal, destroying more than half a million homes.

Six people died in November 2022 when a 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck Doti district, near Jajarkot.