Nepal desperately needed tents, water and food supplies, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala told an all party meeting, while briefing the leaders on efforts to rush emergency supplies to those in need.
The toll could reach 10,000 because information from the affected remote villages is yet to come, Koirala said. Three days after the 7.9-magnitude temblor flattened their homes and dwellings, desperate people across Nepal looked for succour from helicopters that criss-cross the Himalayan nation as massive international aid, including from India, poured in.
At least 5,057 bodies have been recovered after Saturday’s massive earthquake that struck near Kathmandu, a Nepalese police official said. Over 10,000 people have been injured in the quake.
He acknowledged that authorities were overwhelmed by appeals for help from remote villages, but the administration has been unable to initiate rescue efforts in many areas due to the lack of equipment and rescue experts. Eight million people have been affected by the devastating earthquake, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
More than 1.4 million need food, while water and shelter are also in short supply, the UN said in a report. With thousands of houses destroyed or damaged beyond living, tens of thousands of men, women and children spent the third chilly night out in the open in Kathmandu.
Most have been in the same clothes they were in when they fled their homes on Saturday after the powerful earthquake jolted the country. Hundreds of people are still trapped under tonnes of rubble in Kathmandu and some of the worst-affected remote mountainous areas.
Koirala has admitted that the rescue, relief and search operations have not been effective. He has urged the political parties to work together in this national crisis. Meanwhile, Indian Ambassador Ranjit Rae on Tuesday met Koirala and briefed him on the relief and rescue assistance provided by India under ‘Operation Maitri’. The Prime Minister thanked the Ambassador for India’s swift response on relief and rescue assistance.