Three weeks after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake left over 8,000 dead and many more injured another powerful earthquake hit Nepal on Tuesday afternoon around 12.45pm. The epicenter was an area between the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, and the city of Pokhara.
The quake, which struck 18km southeast of Kodari, near the base camp for Mt Everest, was measured at a shallow depth of about 18km. A series of aftershocks - including one 6.3 magnitude tremor - later hit in the same area, the USGS reported.
Uttam Kapri, who runs the Mi Casa hotel in Thamel, Kathmandu, said, "First there was a jolt. Then I felt I was being swayed from side to side. I immediately ran out to the street." Mi Casa developed a crack after the fresh tremor.
“The government will reconstruct damaged public buildings, roads, schools, hospitals, telecom facilities, power houses, and colleges in two years,” Prime Minister Sushil Koirala said in an address to parliament.
In addition to his two-year pledge, Koirala also announced the government would provide loans of up to $25,000, at an interest rate of no more than two percent a year, for the rebuilding of private homes, Reuters reported.
