FILE (Mail Online) – This Oct. 21, 2005 file photo shows Mount Everest from an aerial view taken over Nepal. Senior mountaineering guide, Ang Tshering, said an avalanche swept the face of Mt. Everest after the massive earthquake, Saturday April 25, 2015 while government officials say at least 30 people have been injured on the mountain. (AP Photo/Jody Kurash, File)

Huge Earthquake Kills Hundreds In Nepal, Triggers Everest Avalanche

The Huffington Post  |  By Charlotte Alfred

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on Saturday, killing over a thousand people and triggering a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest.

The earthquake, the worst to hit the country in 80 years, caused massive destruction in the Himalayan nation, including destroying a 19th-century tower in the capital Kathmandu.

Nepali police report that 1,130 people were killed, according to Reuters. The death toll is likely to rise.

Omar Havana via Getty Images
• Volunteers help with rescue work at the site of a building that collapsed after an earthquake in Kathmandu, April 25, 2015. (AP Photo/ Niranjan Shrestha)

The earthquake, the worst to hit Nepal in over 80 years, also triggered a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest.

The avalanche buried part of base camp, full of mountaineers who had come for the start of the main climbing season.

One climber at Everest base camp, Alex Gavan, wrote on Twitter:

“Running for life from my tent. Unhurt. Many many people up the mountain.”

An army spokesman told Reuters that at least 18 bodies had been found at the mountain.

The earthquake’s epicenter was 50 miles east of Nepal’s second largest city, Pokhara. Geoscientists told The New York Times that the shallowness of the quake amplified the power of its tremors at the surface, adding to the scale of destruction.

Strong aftershocks continued throughout the afternoon, as rescue teams scoured the rubble for survivors.

Nepali authorities struggled to assess the full scale of the damage across the remote Himalayan nation, with communications systems down in many areas. “We are totally cut off from most parts of our country,” Nepal Disaster Management Authority official Ram Narayan Pandey told Reuters.

Many feared the worst. “Almost the entire country has been hit,” the deputy chief of mission at Nepal’s Embassy in New Delhi Krishna Prasad Dhakal warned. Nepali police said the death toll included at least 634 in the Kathmandu Valley and at least 300 more in the capital city of Kathmandu.

Thousands of people rushed onto the streets of the capital, in an effort to try to remain safe The Guardian reported, with many too afraid to return as the city was rocked by aftershocks.

Footage of Kathmandu showed rows of collapsed buildings, and streets scarred by gaping cracks.

Among the heritage destroyed in the historic city was the Dharahara Tower, a UNESCO-recognized landmark built in 1832 and a popular look-out point. Around 200 people were trapped when the tower collapsed, police said.

Hospitals in the capital were flooded with the wounded, with one converting their parking lot into a makeshift clinic, the Associated Press reported.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

• Omar Havana via Getty Images
  Emergency rescue workers carry a victim on a stretcher after Dharara tower collapsed on April 25, 2015 in Kathmandu, Nepal. (Omar Havana/Getty Images)
• Omar Havana via Getty Images
  Emergency rescue workers clear debris in Basantapur Durbar Square while searching for survivors on April 25, 2015 in Kathmandu, Nepal. (Omar Havana/Getty Images)
• Omar Havana via Getty Images
  A Kathmandu resident passes in front of a collapsed temple at Basantapur Durbar Square on April 25, 2015 in Kathmandu, Nepal. (Omar Havana/Getty Images)
• ASSOCIATED PRESS
  Volunteers help with rescue work at the site of a building that collapsed after an earthquake in Kathmandu, Nepal, April 25, 2015. (AP Photo/ Niranjan Shrestha)
• PRAKASH MATHEMA via Getty Images
  Nepalese health workers carry injured people into an open area following an earthquake, at Lalitpur on the outskirts of Kathmandu on April 25, 2015. (PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/Getty Images)
• PRAKASH MATHEMA via Getty Images
  Nepalese people walk past collapsed buildings at Lalitpur, on the outskirts of Kathmandu on April 25, 2015. (PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/Getty Images)
• ASSOCIATED PRESS
  Rescuers clear the debris at Durbar Sqaure after an earthquake in Kathmandu, April 25, 2015. (AP Photo/ Niranjan Shrestha)
• PRAKASH MATHEMA via Getty Images
  Nepalese health workers carry injured people into an open area following an earthquake, at Lalitpur on the outskirts of Kathmandu on April 25, 2015. (PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/Getty Images)
• PRAKASH MATHEMA via Getty Images
  Nepalese rescue members and onlookers gather at the collapsed Dharahara Tower in Kathmandu on April 25, 2015. (PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/Getty Images)
• DIPTENDU DUTTA via Getty Images
  Indian bystanders look at a collapsed house following an earthquake, in Siliguri on April 25, 2015. (DIPTENDU DUTTA/AFP/Getty Images)
• PRAKASH MATHEMA via Getty Images
  Nepalese people wheel an injured man into an open area following an earthquake, at Lalitpur on the outskirts of Kathmandu on April 25, 2015. (PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/Getty Images)
• DIPTENDU DUTTA via Getty Images
  Indian police and bystanders look at a collapsed house following an earthquake, in Siliguri on April 25, 2015. (DIPTENDU DUTTA/AFP/Getty Images)
• ASSOCIATED PRESS
  An injured person receives treatment outside the Medicare Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, April 25, 2015. (AP Photo/ Niranjan Shrestha)