Another earthquake hits Nepal again! Four people killed in 7.3 magnitude quake just weeks after 8,000 people died

 

A massive earthquake shook Nepal this morning, killing at least four people and sending thousands of people in the capital Kathmandu rushing out in to the streets.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 7.3 and struck in an isolated, conservation area 42 miles west of the town of Namche Bazar, close to Mount Everest and the border with Tibet.

 

A spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration confirmed that at least four people had been killed in the town of Chautara. Shockwaves were felt over thousands of miles and as far apart as Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, and the Indian capital New Delhi, where buildings swayed for more than a minute and people scurried into the streets. It comes less than three weeks after a devastating 7.8 magnitude quake killed more than 8,000 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes in the region.

Speaking of the earthquake, Kathmandu-based businesswoman Shiwani Neupane told MailOnline: 'I was on the sixth floor of my office building when the quake hit. We had been discussing re-building of a village...The meeting had just ended, and suddenly, the sofa I was sitting on started shaking.

'At first, we thought it was a slight tremor but in seconds it felt bigger. My mother, father and I were in the office and we rushed towards the door but the building started swinging... Everyone was praying in their own way. Some were calling God's name out loud and others were more quiet. 

'I knew the building had been constructed safely, so I kept thinking of that. Once the tremors subsided, everyone ran downstairs. I kept saying, don't run, don't run please because while reporting at the hospital, I had learnt that many get hit badly while running. 

'Once we were outside, there was chaos in the street. The ground was still shaking. People were calling their loved ones. We walked right to the middle of the street, and stood there as motorcycles zoomed past us...The ground was still shaking and there was fear in so many people's eyes.' 

'Soon, we got on our car, and drove back home... [but] we had to stop in the middle of the road because of another tremor.

'I saw patients in Prashuti Griha - the maternal hospital for women - crowded. There was a doctor in slippers and a mask. He looked like he might have run out of a surgery. There were groups and groups of people gathered outside everywhere.

Elsewhere in Kathmandu, parents could be seen clutching children tightly and hundreds of people were frantically trying to call relatives on their mobile phones.