The earthquake, which hit at about 2 am local time on Wednesday (20:15 GMT), sent tremors into northern India.
Bhola Bhatta, deputy superintendent of police in Doti, said that four children were among the fatalities that occurred when eight houses collapsed after the earthquake struck the mountainous western region, Al Jazeera reported.
The police chief confirmed earlier information provided by home ministry official Tulsi Rijal.
The deceased included an 8-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl, two 14-year-old girls, a 40-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man, Bhatta said, according to The Kathmandu Post news outlet.
A ground rescue team has been rushed to the site, and two helicopters were on standby in nearby Surkhet and Nepalgunj towns, a spokesperson for the Nepali army, Brigadier-General Narayan Silwal, said.
The earthquake was centred approximately 160km (100 miles) northeast of Pilibhit, a populous city in the neighbouring Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, and occurred at a depth of 10km, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.
The EMSC recorded the earthquake at a magnitude of 5.6, the US Geological Survey also gave a preliminary rating of 5.6, and Nepal’s seismological centre set the earthquake at a magnitude of 6.6.
Western Nepal had been jolted by a magnitude 4.8 earthquake at a depth of 10km hours earlier, at about 9 pm (15:15 GMT) local time.
Local media reported that tremors were felt in India’s capital, New Delhi, located 400km (250 miles) west of the epicentre.
Nepal is still rebuilding after two major earthquakes in 2015 killed almost 9,000 people, destroyed whole towns, including centuries-old temples and more than 824,000 homes, and caused an estimated $6bn in economic damage.
ZZ/PR
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