An earthquake measuring 7.9 magnitude struck west of the ancient Nepali capital of Kathmandu on Saturday, causing buildings to collapse, injuring many and leaving a pall of dust over the city, witnesses said. The death toll has crossed 1457 as Kathmandu's decrepit buildings, crisscrossed by narrow alleys, are home to large families. A 1934 quake of magnitude 8.3 in the Himalayan nation had killed over 8,500 people. On Saturday night, IAF evacuated 55 Indians from Kathmandu. More are likely to be evacuated tommorow.

At least 51 people on Sunday were killed and 237 injured in various parts of the country in a powerful earthquake, with epicentre in Nepal, which destroyed or damaged several houses and buildings.

Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, bordering Nepal, were the worst-hit parts of India in the quake measuring 7.9 on the Richter Scale. Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told PTI that Bihar accounted for the highest number of deaths--38--and 133 people were injured in the state.

In Uttar Pradesh, 11 deaths took place and 69 people were injured while in West Bengal 2 persons perished and 35 were injured in the quake, he said. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself monitoring the situation and issuing directives, massive rescue and relief operations were initiated on a war footing.

The Prime Minister, who took stock of the situation at a high-level meeting here, directed immediate dispatch of rescue and relief teams, including medical staff, to the affected areas. He also spoke to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.The central government's Crisis Management Committee, headed by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth, is holding regular meetings to keep a watch on the situation.

The quake reportedly lasted for about a minute. The epicentre of the earthquake is Pokhara in Nepal.

Meanwhile Indian army has recovered 13 out of 18 bodies evacuated from Everest base camp.

Meanwhile, Indian Army Everest team @adgpi has evacuated 13 dead bodies out of 18 total evacuated from base camp #Nepal #earthquake — Snehesh Alex Philip (@sneheshphilip) April 25, 2015

Here are a few emergency contact numbers:

Emergency contact Numbers for Nepal. Spread the word guys please. pic.twitter.com/DbIn2zuqSu — Vir Das (@thevirdas) April 25, 2015

A 24-hour Control Room has been set up MEA in Delhi,for Earthquake Enquiry #Phone-011-23012113 /23014104 / 2301 7905#Fax-23018158 pls RT — Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) April 25, 2015

Massive earthquake in Nepal. Indian Embassy Helplines +977 9851107021, 9851135141 @meaindia @pmoindia — Embassy of India KTM (@eoiktmnp) April 25, 2015

The control room can be reached at the numbers mentioned below: +91 11 2301 2113 +91 11 2301 4104 +91 11 2301 7905 — ANI (@ANI_news) April 25, 2015

Meanwhile, Air India said it would resume its flights to and from Kathmandu on Sunday.

#Quake #Update With KTM airport open now, Air India will resume its KTM operations from tomorrow, to/from DEL & CCU. (1/2) — Air India (@airindiain) April 25, 2015

We will also be on standby to operate additional flights to fly out the stranded. (2/2) — Air India (@airindiain) April 25, 2015

Earlier, former Nepal PM Baburam Bhattarai posted pictures of the disaster on Facebook.

Pictures from Kathmandu show damage of 7.9 magnitude #earthquake; reports of injuries http://t.co/HDOgZ7UDka pic.twitter.com/ycP7X2WbuL — BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) April 25, 2015

Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that India would reach out to those affected by the quake. “We are in the process of finding more information and are working to reach out to those affected, both at home & in Nepal,” he added.

Ambassador-designate of Nepal here Deep Kumar Upadhyay said his country needs mobile medical assistant units from India, besides other help. He thanked India for stepping in and offering help saying, "We have been in touch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Our President is in touch with them and they have offered to help us. I thank India on behalf of Nepal for assisting us".

Meanwhile, India has kept its transport aircraft and C17 Globemaster, C-130 Hercules and helicopters on standby.

The tremors were felt strongly in Kolkata. People rushed out of their homes after the furnitures in their homes started shaking. Some have complained of feeling nauseous. Rahul Kumar, from Delhi has said, "It was like someone was shaking my bed." People took to social media after experiencing the quake. Here are a few reactions.

Tremors felt in Meerut too. Quite a few seconds. #Earthquake — atiya zaidi (@atiyaz) April 25, 2015

Strong tremors in Noida. Got everybody to step out of the house. — Ruchica Tomar (@ruchicatomar) April 25, 2015

Real long tremors in Delhi. Looks like a huge earthquake. — Arvind Thakur (@ArvindatNIIT) April 25, 2015

Crazy tremors in Gurgaon. #earthquake whole bed and other furniture shook for more than 5seconds at least — Nikhil Ghanekar (@NGhanekar) April 25, 2015

Feeling the tremors in #Doon now, people are reporting them from Delhi to Bangladesh. Anywhere else? Is it an #earthquake or just a shrug? — ranjona banerji (@ranjona) April 25, 2015

Earthquake in Ahmedabad. Tremors of low intensity were felt. — Keyur Shah (@keytwitt) April 25, 2015

First, I thought my head spinning! Then windows & doors began rattling, earthquake. Epicentre in Nepal, entire north India felt tremors! — Rajat Pandit (@originalpandit) April 25, 2015

With agency inputs