An earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale hit Nepal and many parts of North India with the impact being felt up in Delhi.

Auto refresh feeds

According to USGS, an aftershock of magnitude 5.6 has hit Nepal 18 km south-east of Kodari, Nepal.

USGS reported that an aftershock of magnitude 5.4 was felt 36 km south-west of Zuobude, China and an aftershock measuring 6.3 was felt 63 km north-west of Ramechhap, Nepal.

USGS reported that aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 and 5.1 were felt near Kodari.

The helpline numbers for the Indian embassy in Nepal are (+977)851107021, (+977)9851135141.

According to the Euro-Med Seismological Centre (EMSC), four more aftershocks have hit Nepal, three of which were of magnitude greater than 5. The fourth one was of magnitude 4.7.

Two people have been killed in Bihar due to a wall collapse, reported PTI. In Uttar Pradesh, one man has died.

"We have got some initial inputs, official figure will come after some time. Teams are ready, NDRF teams have been put on stand by. Nepal hasn't made any official request so far," Rijiju told ANI.

Union Minister for Home Kiren Rijiju said that the rescue teams are ready and would be deployed as per requirement.

Medics and volunteers have reportedly formed a human chain at a Kathmandu hospital to keep a path open for ambulances. Some aid teams which were on their way back from Nepal were considering whether to return to the country to help, Reuters said.

A district official told Reuters that three major landslides were reported in the Sindhupalchowk region.

The death toll in Nepal has risen to 19 while the number of injured stood at 981, a Reuters update said citing the country's home ministry.

The health ministry said rescuers had managed to pull three people to safety in the capital, while another nine were rescued in the district of Dolkha, the Associated Press reported.

Nepal's home ministry has raised the death toll from Tuesday's quake to at least 42, while saying another 1,117 people had been injured.

According to a Reuters update, Medecins Sans Frontieres emergency coordinator Dan Sermand said the village of Charikot near the epicentre had suffered the worst damage of the three villages the organisation had surveyed by helicopter.

A Nepalese rescue team inspects the site of a building that collapsed in an earthquake in Kathmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, on 12 May 2015. A major earthquake has hit Nepal near the Chinese border between the capital of Kathmandu and Mount Everest less than three weeks after the country was devastated by a quake. Niranjan Shrestha/AP

According to a Reuters update, Medecins Sans Frontieres emergency coordinator Dan Sermand said the village of Charikot near the epicentre had suffered the worst damage of the three villages the organisation had surveyed by helicopter.

A boy showing cracks on a wall after the earthquake in Siliguri on Tuesday. PTI

#NepalQuake : While aftershocks continue, only 13% of requirement is funded. More is needed to scale up the response. pic.twitter.com/YQQQGEmloP

A US Marine Corps helicopter carrying out earthquake relief in Nepal was reported missing on Tuesday with eight personnel on board, officials said. "The incident occurred near Charikot, Nepal while the aircraft was conducting humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations," said Major Dave Eastburn, spokesman for US Pacific Command. The UH-1Y Huey, which was carrying tarps and rice, had just dropped off supplies and was headed to another destination, officials said. Before the chopper went missing, there was "some chatter about a fuel problem" on the radio from the helicopter crew, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren said. - AFP

The 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on Tuesday, 17 days after a lethal 7.8 temblor, is part of a chain reaction in a notorious seismic hotspot, scientists said. "Large earthquakes are often followed by other quakes, sometimes as large as the initial one," said Carmen Solana, a volcanologist at Britain's University of Portsmouth. - AFP

PM directed all concerned authorities to be on alert for carrying out rescue and relief operations, as required.

PM took stock of the situation following the fresh major earthquake felt in Nepal and parts of India, at a high-level meeting.

Home ministry official Laxmi Dhakal said Wednesday that army helicopters were scouring the Sunkhani area, nearly 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Kathmandu, for the missing helicopter. - AP

A U.S. Marine Corps helicopter carrying six Marines and two Nepalese soldiers was reported missing while delivering disaster aid in northeastern Nepal, U.S. officials said, although there have been no indications the aircraft crashed.

Thousands of fear-stricken people spent the night outdoors after a new earthquake killed dozens of people and spread more misery in Nepal, which is still reeling from a devastating quake that killed more than 8,000 nearly three weeks ago.

An earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale hit Nepal and many parts of North India with the impact being felt up in Delhi, West Bengal, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and other parts of north India.

The epicentre has been located on the Nepal-China border, 83 km east of Kathmandu.

The USGS has also reported about another quake with its epicentre in Afghanistan measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale.

The Delhi Secretariat was immediately evacuated after the tremors felt in the national capital.

On 25 April, a massive 7.9 magnitude had hit Nepal and many parts of North India with the Himalayan Kingdom suffering huge loss of life and property. The earthquake killed over 7,000 people in Nepal.

The number of houses destroyed in Nepal due to the 25 April earthquake was over 1,60,000, nearly twice the number of households wrecked in the 1934's deadly temblor that has been the country's worst disaster of all times.

After the quake, India had launched a massive rescue mission armed with modern equipment, dumpers and earth removers and aided by sniffer dogs, disaster relief workers were trying to locate possible survivors against fading hopes.

The quake that flattened homes and buildings and the subsequent powerful aftershocks had forced people out to live in the open under plastic tents, barely shielding them from cold and rains that have pounded the city.

Fuel and medicines were also in short supply. The picture was the same in suburbs of Kathmandu and in other rural areas.

In worst-affected districts like Gorkha and Sindhupalchowk, the damage was even more extensive, with up to 90 percent of houses destroyed, according to a situation report released by the United Nation's humanitarian agency OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs).

Among the affected districts, Sindhupalchowk has reported the maximum casualties with over 2,000 deaths, and several hundreds have died in Gorkha, where the epicentre of the deadly quake lay that fateful day.

The report has also estimated $415 million as needed for vital humanitarian relief in the quake-ravaged country. According to the report, the number of houses wrecked in the earthquake 81 years ago stood at 80,893.

The 1934 Great Nepal-Bihar Earthquake, with its epicentre about 9.5 km south of Mt Everest, had killed several thousands people on both sides of the Himalayas and practically flattened Kathmandu Valley besides levelling several districts in Bihar like Munger, Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga, destroying houses and grand palaces.

The 25 April quake had in many ways become an eerie reminder to the 1934 quake, which too has robbed the culturally-rich country of its architectural jewels, including the iconic Ghantaghar (clock tower). The Dharhara tower, a veritable landmark of the city was destroyed in 1934 as well, but was rebuilt later, only to meet a more cruel fate this time.

(With inputs from PTI)