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Earthquake rocks Nepal, no word on casualties

KATHMANDU: An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale rattled a remote village in midwestern Nepal on Saturday but there was no immediate word of damage to life or property, an official said.

National Seismological Centre spokesman Madhav Raj Pandey said the epicentre of the tremors that occurred at 9.49 a.m.was located at Rugha village in Rukum district in the Himalayan foothills of midwestern Nepal.

Rugha, located about 450 km (281 miles) west of the national capital, Kathmandu, is a sparsely populated remote village with poor communications.-Reuters