This handout photo provided by Nepal Prime Minister's Office shows an earthquake-affected area in northwestern Nepal, Nov 4, 2023. (NEPAL PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE VIA AP)

KATHMANDU – Rescue workers in Nepal began digging through the rubble of collapsed houses with their hands on Saturday, searching for survivors after the country's worst earthquake in eight years killed 137 people and shook buildings as far away as New Delhi.

The quake occurred at 11:47 pm on Friday with a magnitude 6.4, Nepal's National Seismological Centre said. The German Research Centre for Geosciences measured the quake at 5.7, downgrading it from 6.2, while the US Geological Survey pegged it at 5.6.

People airlifted from an earthquake-affected area arrive in Nepalgunj, Nepal, Saturday, Nov 4, 2023. A strong earthquake has shaken northwestern Nepal, and officials say more than 100 people are dead and dozens more injured as rescuers search mountain villages. (PHOTO / AP)

The quake is the deadliest since 2015 when about 9,000 people were killed in two earthquakes in the Himalayan country. Whole towns, centuries-old temples and other historic sites were reduced to rubble then, with more than a million houses destroyed, at a cost to the economy of $6 billion.

READ MORE: 4 years after Nepal quake, survivors continue to live in disarray

Officials feared the death toll in Friday's quake could rise as they had not been able to establish contact in the hilly area near the epicenter, some 500 km west of the capital Kathmandu, where tremors were also felt. The district has a population of 190,000 with villages scattered in remote hills.

Thousands of residents spent the entire night in cold, open grounds because they were too scared to go in into the cracked houses as aftershocks struck.

Harish Chandra Sharma, Jajarkot district official 

"The number of injured could be in the hundreds and the deaths could go up as well," Jajarkot district official Harish Chandra Sharma told Reuters by phone.

Police spokesman Kuber Kadayat said 92 people were killed in Jajarkot and 36 in neighboring Rukum West district, both in Karnali province. The epicenter was in the village of Ramidanda.

At least 85 people were injured in Rukum West and 55 in Jajarkot, an official in the prime minister's office said, while Sharma said at least 50 people were in hospitals in Jajarkot alone.

"Many houses have collapsed, many others have developed cracks. Thousands of residents spent the entire night in cold, open grounds because they were too scared to go in into the cracked houses as aftershocks struck," Sharma said. "I have myself not been able to go in."

Search and rescue must clear roads blocked by landslides, triggered by the earthquake, to reach the affected areas, police officer Namaraj Bhattarai said.

Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (center) arrives at the Jajarkot district in western Nepal after an earthquake Nov 4, 2023. (NEPAL PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE VIA XINHUA)

Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (right) visits an injured woman at a hospital in Jajarkot district, Nepal, Nov 4, 2023. (NEPAL PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE VIA XINHUA)

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal flew to the area early on Saturday with a 16-member army medical team to oversee search, rescue and relief, his office said.

The earthquake shook buildings as far as New Delhi, about 600 km away, according to Reuters witnesses. Videos on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, showed people running into the street as some buildings were evacuated.

Dahal, posting on the X social media platform, expressed deep sorrow at the loss of life and property in the quake and ordered security agencies to launch immediate rescue and relief operations.

A doctor looks after a patient injured in an earthquake, evacuated from his village and brought to a hospital in Nepalgunj, Nepal, Nov 4, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

This photo taken on Nov 4, 2023 shows damaged buildings after an earthquake in Jajarkot district, Nepal. (NEPAL PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE VIA XINHUA)

A motorcycle and broken windows are seen in the midst of the rubble in the aftermath of an earthquake in Jajarkot on Nov 4, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)

A doctor looks after a patient injured in an earthquake, evacuated from his village and brought to a hospital in Nepalgunj, Nepal, Nov 4, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

Local media footage showed crumbled facades of multi-storied brick houses, with large pieces of furniture scattered. Videos on X showed people running into the street as some buildings were evacuated.

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"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 damage," police official Santosh Rokka said by phone.