New Delhi: A new 7.3-magnitude earthquake and seven powerful aftershocks struck Nepal on Tuesday killing at least 50 people and triggering panic in the Himalayan nation already devastated by a monster temblor less than three weeks ago that had claimed over 8,000 lives.

According to Nepal Police Spokesperson Kamal Singh Bam, the fresh quake that hit hardest in remote mountain districts northeast of the country's capital Kathmandu killed at least 50 people, injuring more than 1,100 people besides causing further physical damages. Unofficial reports put the death toll at around 60.

The earthquake struck at 12:35 PM, some 83 km east of Kathmandu near Mount Everest at a shallow depth of 15 km, the US Geological Survey(USGS) said.

The agency had earlier measured the quake at 7.4 on the Richter Scale but later revised the intensity to 7.3.

The quake hit Dolakha and Sindhupalchowk districts - the worst-affected areas in the last month's temblor. At least 26 people were killed in Dolakha, police said, adding a total of 32 of 75 districts were affected in the fresh quake.

A second tremor of 6.3-magnitude struck about 30 minutes after the 7.3-magnitude quake that sent terrified residents running into the streets of the traumatised capital.

The USGS said there were five more aftershocks measuring over 5 on the Richter Scale after the second tremor that kept people on the edge.

According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the first quake was followed by at least seven more tremors in a span of less than two hours, as per PTI.

Police said several houses collapsed in the quake.

The fresh quake triggered massive panic among the people, who have been staying in the open since the 7.9-magnitude lethal temblor struck on April 25, killing over 8,000 people and flattening thousands of buildings besides destroying whole villages.



Kathmandu airport was initially evacuated as a precautionary measure, however, it later resumed its normal business. Nepal's Foreign Minister Mahendra Pandey said that telephone lines have gone dead but efforts were on to restore telecommunication services across the country. Most of the people are out on the streets. The Nepal Cabinet will meet soon for damage assessment, he added.

Quake rattles North India

Strong tremors were also felt across vast stretches of east and northeast India. The quake also jolted Afghanistan, China and Indonesia.

The quake had its impact in several cities in Bihar, West Bengal, Delhi and UP etc. Delhi and the NCR region felt strong tremors at 12:35 pm. Earth shook for over 20 seconds. Other areas in North India and East India, including West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam, felt the impact of the earthquake.

A Met official said the epicentre of the earthquake was 70 kms south-east of Nepal and measured 7.1 on the Richter Scale. However, he described it as an aftershock of the major one on April 25 that measured 7.9 on the Richter Scale.

Fresh aftershocks were felt in the national capital at around 1.13 pm again.

PM Modi reviews situation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took stock of situation soon after fresh earthquake hit Nepal and tremors were felt in parts of the country.

PM took stock of the situation following the fresh major earthquake felt in Nepal and parts of India, at a high-level meeting. — PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 12, 2015

PM directed all concerned authorities to be on alert for carrying out rescue and relief operations, as required. — PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 12, 2015

No need to panic, says Rajnath Singh

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also took to Twitter to confirm the news earlier in the day.

News of an earthquake hitting Nepal again has come. Several parts of India also felt the tremors. MHA is collecting more details and info — Rajnath Singh (@BJPRajnathSingh) May 12, 2015

The Home Minister, however, said there was no need to panic.

Rajnath Singh also spoke to Home Secretary LC Goyal and India's Ambassador to Nepal Ranjeet Ray.

LS Rathore, DG, IMD, while addressing a press conference, warned that aftershocks will continue for weeks or may be months. The IMD chief said though shocks have been felt in almost entire India but intensity was very high in areas adjoining Nepal. The earthquake of magnitude 7.3 was registered at 12.35 pm, 65 km, east of Kathmandu at a depth of 18.5 kilometres, he added. It was followed by three aftershocks of 6.2, 5.4 and 4.8 on Richter scale, the IMD chief said.

The IMD has classified Nepal earthquake as “major”.

Metro halted after tremors felt in Delhi

In the national capital, the Delhi Metro was brought to a halt as per standard operating procedure. Thousands of passengers across the Metro service felt strong tremors.

Government and private offices were immediately evacuated. Later the Metro started to operate.

15 dead in Bihar due to massive earthquake

At least 15 people were killed and nearly two dozen people were injured when a massive earthquake caused walls to collapse in parts of Bihar. A labourer was killed when an under-construction wall collapsed in Danapur near Patna and a child was killed in Siwan district when a wall collapsed. Another child was seriously injured, officials of state disaster management department said.

Two children were killed in Manigachi in Darbhanga district in a wall collapse and a woman was killed in Dumra of Sitamarhi district when she came under the debris of a wall that fell. One person died in Hajipur in Vaishali district, Nawada and Saran districts due to the quake.

Over half a dozen girl students of a government middle school at Bihya in Bhojpur district were injured when they were trying to rush out of classroom.

People in Patna, Darbhanga, Purnea, Kishanganj, Madhubani, Jehanabad and Aurangabad felt the tremors for over a minute.

India says no rescue team till Nepal asks for help

Meanwhile, India said today that it will not send any rescue team to Nepal to assist the local administration unless the neighbouring country seeks help in the wake of Tuesday's earthquake.

"Government will wait for a call from Nepal before sending any rescue team to Nepal," a source privy to the deliberations at the highest level of the government said.

The move bears significance as after about 10 days of the April 25 earthquake, Nepal had abruptly asked all foreign rescue teams, including India's National Disaster Response Force, to return home.

The government, however, has kept the NDRF and the Indian Air Force in full alert and on standby to respond to any emergency call from Nepal.

Second quake part of chain reaction, say scientists

On the other hand, the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal today is part of a chain reaction in a notorious seismic hotspot, scientists said.

Like buttons popping off one by one from a shirt that is ripped open, a large quake displaces stress to another part of a fault, causing it to rupture, they 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 reported.

"This is because the movement produced by the first quake adds extra stress on other faults and destabilises them," she told the Science Media Centre (SMC), a not-for-profit organisation based in London.

"Since the first earthquake in April, aftershocks have been migrating more or less southeastwards," Nigel Harris, a professor of tectonics at Britain's Open University, told the SMC.

Pascal Bernard, a seismologist at the Institute for Planetary Physics in Paris, said aftershocks in the region were unlikely to be greater than five magnitude.

Over 80 years prior to today's quake, eastern Nepal had an 8.1 temblor in 1934. Around 10,700 people were killed in Nepal and neighbouring India.

"This means that pressure between the two tectonic plates in this region has significantly eased," Bernard said.

At the interface of the two plates, the Indian plate is riding upwards at around two centimetres a year.

The movement is not smooth but rather laden with friction, leading to sharp and potentially destructive jolts as stress builds up.

(With Agency inputs)