Nepal earthquake: A remarkable escape is seen in the municipality near the epicenter

Although at least 157 people were killed in other areas of the district and nearby Rukum West on Friday, a media report on Sunday said that no deaths were recorded from the earthquake in the municipality located in the epicenter of the catastrophic earthquake in Nepal’s Jajarkot district.
A 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck the nation on Friday shortly before midnight had its epicenter near the Ramidanda hamlet in the Barekot Rural Municipality, according to the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Center.

The Kathmandu Post newspaper said that as of Saturday night, the rural municipality completely averted human casualties despite significant physical damage to the homes and public facilities.

The head of the rural municipality, Bir Bahadur Giri, remarked, “We find it hard to believe how we all avoided death in the area when we see the severely damaged houses.” “It is a land of God, and many people think God saved them there.”

He said that there were five injuries in the rural municipality. According to the article, three of them were transported by air to a hospital in Surkhet, while two of them were treated at the neighborhood health office.

There are around 3,500 homes in the rural municipality.

Hardly a single home has not been affected by the earthquake. While over 1,000 dwellings have been severely damaged and residents have been living in open places, at least 90% of them need to be rebuilt, according to Giri.

The absence of fatalities in Barekot Rural Municipality has been certified by the District Administration Office (DAO), located in Jajarkot.

As many as 105 people perished in the Jajarkot area, according to information shared on Facebook on Saturday night by the area Administration Office.

Of these, 42 persons died in Bheri Municipality, seven in Kushe Rural Municipality, one in Chhedagad Municipality, and 55 in Nalgaad Municipality.

According to the publication, the DAO has not recorded any deaths near the epicenter of the severe earthquake, Barekot Rural Municipality.

Giri himself avoided death even though the earthquake caused one of his house’s walls to collapse. “I’m not the only one experiencing this,” he said. Many others were as well.

A small hamlet might be one explanation for the absence of deaths in Ramidanda village.

Despite significant damage to the homes, no one was killed, even in the neighboring, more populous Silpachaur neighborhood, according to Dinayat Gharti, chief administrative officer of the rural municipality.

Experts say that the epicenter doesn’t always experience more physical damage than other places.

“However, it is extremely uncommon and even miraculous for the epicentre to escape any human causality in a major earthquake,” stated Amod Mani Dixit, president of the National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET), a group established by professionals from Nepal who work in the disaster risk management industry.

He claims that the location of the fault line and whether or not the homes are sturdy enough to endure the shocks will determine how much damage is done.