BAJURA: Twenty-three houses have been completely damaged by an earthquake at Bichchhya of Himali Rural Municipality-2 in the district last night.

The earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale with its epicenter at Dahakot, Gaumul Rural Municipality struck the district at 1.30 am last night.

According to the Chief Administrative Officer of Himali rural municipality, Raj Bahadur Bhandari, 23 houses are damaged by the tremor in Bichchhya. The houses of Dhanjit Budha, Dantir Budha, Joblal Budha, Naule Budha, Dil Bahadur Budha, and Saurmal Rokaya have been completely damaged.

Similarly, the house of Basu Rokaya, Surendra Budha, Duwalal Budha, Dev Bahadur Budha, Pancha Rokaya, Surendra Budha, Jaggi Bohara, Saimal Bohara, Surja Bohara, Jas Thapa, Bhayadhan Thapa, Purna Thapa, Kusum Khadka, Bachmal Rokaya, Kala Rokaya, Surja Khadka, and Gellal Khadka have also been completely damaged by the quake.

Chief District Officer Pushkar Khadka said that the district administration is collecting information on the damage caused by the earthquake in coordination with the Chief Administrative Officer and the rural municipality ward chairperson.