Devastation, Crumbling Buildings In Nepal After 6.4 Earthquake, 140 Killed: 10 Facts

Several houses in Jajarkot were flattened on damaged when the earthquake hit late on Friday night. Videos from the spot showed crumbled facades of multi-storied brick houses, with large pieces of furniture scattered.

Photos posted on social media showed locals digging through rubble in the dark to pull survivors from the wreckage of collapsed homes and buildings.

"Houses have collapsed. People rushed out of their homes. I am out in the crowd of terrified residents. We are trying to find details of damages," police official Santosh Rokka.

While rescue operations are on, officials are facing difficulties establishing contact with areas in Jajarkot, a hilly district with a population of 190,000 and villages scattered in remote hills.

"The remoteness of the districts makes it difficult for information to get through. Some roads had been blocked by damage, but we are trying to reach the area through alternate routes," Karnali Province police spokesman Gopal Chandra Bhattarai told AFP.

Nepal has also deployed the army to assist with the search and rescue operations.

All heli-operators in Nepal have been told to be on standby and and regular flight movement has been suspended to facilitate the airlifting of injured from affected areas.

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal expressed "his deep sorrow over the human and physical damage caused by the earthquake".

Nepal is nestled in a geologically active region, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collide, forming the Himalayas and making earthquakes a frequent occurrence.

In 2015, about 9,000 people were killed in two earthquakes in Nepal. Whole towns, centuries-old temples and other historic sites were reduced to rubble, with more than a million houses destroyed, at a cost to the economy of $6 billion.