November 4: At least 80 people have been killed and hundreds injured in western Nepal following a strong earthquake that hit Jajarkot district on Friday night.

The Hindu newspaper of India, citing authorities in Nepal, put the death toll at 128, including 80 in Jajarkot – the epicenter of the quake.

The earthquake measuring 6.4 in the Richter scale occurred at 11:47 pm on Friday, with Ramidanda of Jajarkot as the epicenter, the state-owned RSS reported.     

The US Geological Survey however put the magnitude at 5.6 and said it was just 18 kilometres (11 miles) deep.    

The death toll is expected to rise as hundreds of people have been injured, Chief District Officer of Jajarkot Suresh Sunar told RSS.

According to RSS, the earthquake has severely hit Bheri, Nalgad, Kushe, Barekot and Chedagad areas in the district. All the security forces in the district have been mobilized in the search and rescue work, RSS quoted CDO Sunar as saying.    

Among the dead also includes Deputy Mayor of Nalgad Municipality Sarita Singh, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police of Jajarkot Santosh Rokka.   

The tremors were felt as far away as Kathmandu and even about 600km (375 miles) away in the Indian capital New Delhi, Al Jazeera reported.