Quake toll in Nepal reaches 19; nearly 1,000 hurt - official

Local residents comfort each others during an earthquake in central Kathmandu, Nepal, May 12, 2015. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nineteen people were killed in Nepal and 981 injured in an earthquake on Tuesday, home ministry official Laxmi Prasad Dhakal told Reuters, giving a first national estimate. The quake, with a magnitude of 7.3, struck less than three weeks after a 7.8 temblor killed more than 8,000 people and damaged hundreds of thousands of homes in the Himalayan nation. (Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Writing by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)