A magnitude 6.6 earthquake has struck Nepal, killing at least six people, injuring several others, and destroying multiple houses in the northwestern district of Doti, officials said.

The earthquake, which hit at about 2am local time on Wednesday (20:15 GMT), sent tremors into northern India.

Bhola Bhatta, deputy superintendent of police in Doti, said that four children were among the fatalities that occurred when eight houses collapsed after the earthquake struck the mountainous western region.

The police chief confirmed earlier information provided by home ministry official Tulsi Rijal.

The deceased included an 8-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl, two 14-year-old girls, a 40-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man, Bhatta said, according to The Kathmandu Post news outlet.

A ground rescue team has been rushed to the site, and two helicopters were on standby in nearby Surkhet and Nepalgunj towns, a spokesperson for the Nepali army, Brigadier-General Narayan Silwal, said.

The earthquake was centred approximately 160km (100 miles) northeast of Pilibhit, a populous city in the neighbouring Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, and occurred at a depth of 10km, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.

The EMSC recorded the earthquake at a magnitude of 5.6, the US Geological Survey also gave a preliminary rating of 5.6, and Nepal’s seismological centre set the earthquake at a magnitude of 6.6.

Western Nepal had been jolted by a magnitude 4.8 earthquake at a depth of 10km hours earlier, at about 9pm (15:15 GMT) local time.

A resident of Gorakhpur city in India’s Uttar Pradesh — more than 350km from the epicentre — wrote on the EMSC’s website that they had felt the tremors.

“The building was shaking. I’m on the 9th floor,” they wrote.

Local media reported that tremors were felt in India’s capital, New Delhi, located 400km (250 miles) west of the epicentre.

Nepal is still rebuilding after two major earthquakes in 2015 killed almost 9,000 people, destroyed whole towns, including centuries-old temples and more than 824,000 homes, and caused an estimated $6bn in economic damage. (Al Jazeera)

PHOTO CAPTION:•A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck in western Nepal at about 2am local time (20:15 GMT) causing several houses to collapse.

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