Four fresh tremors felt in Nepal as toll nears 8,000
10 May 2015 5:01 AM IST
Four fresh tremors jolted Nepal on Friday, triggering panic among the people still reeling under the impact of the devastating earthquake that has claimed nearly 8,000 lives as the UN expressed concern over the meagre international contribution that poured in so far.
Mild aftershocks continued to rock Nepal two weeks after the powerful April 25 temblor, with four measuring over 4 on the Richter scale recorded from early morning till 2 pm today and almost all centred around the battered district of Sindhupalchowk.
The last tremor of 4.6-magnitude struck at 1.32 pm with its epicentre at Sindhupalchwok. A tremor of 5-magnitude occurred at 6.17 am with its epicentre Dolakha and Sindhupalchowk border, east of Kathmandu. Another tremor of 4.2-magnitude was felt at 8.19 am with its epicentre at Sindhupalchowk, according to Ratnamani Gupta of the National Seismological Centre (NSC).
A 4-magnitude tremor was also felt at 2.19 AM this morning with the epicentre at Sindhupalchowk district. However, no damage was reported from the tremors so far.
About 150 aftershocks measuring 4 or more on the Richter scale have been reported after the country’s worst earthquake in 80 years. The death toll from the devastating earthquake has reached 7,903, while the number of the people sustaining injuries in the quake has been put at 17,803, according to Nepal police.
Sindhupalchowk is the worst-hit district with nearly 3,000 people dead while 1,209 have been killed in Kathmandu.
Nepalese security agencies also rescued 35 Nepalese and 11 Chinese nationals from different areas of the quake-hit country on Friday. Eleven Chinese workers were airlifted from Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Station at Dolakha district while seven men, one injured woman and two children were rescued from Dolakha. Similarly, 19 people have been airlifted from Dhading and six from Dolakha by helicopter, according to Nepal Police.
The United Nations on Friday said that it had received just over five per cent of its appeal amount of $415 million for quake-hit Nepal and asked the international community to “dramatically ramp up” their contributions.
“The relief needs remain great and we urgently need funds to be able to continue our work. Of the requested $415 million to support immediate humanitarian interventions, only $22.4 million was received. This needs to be dramatically ramped up,” said Jamie Goldrick, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nepal.
Meanwhile, the Indian Embassy here strongly refuted a media report in a national daily that said all the rescue and relief operations carried out by the Indian Air Force were not done in coordination with Nepal authorities.
Education for 1 mn children in Nepal in jeopardy: UNICEF
Nearly 1 million children in quake-hit Nepal will not be able to return to school unless urgent action is taken to provide temporary learning spaces and repair damaged school buildings, UNICEF said on Friday.
“Almost one million children who were enrolled in school before the earthquake could now find they have no school building to return to,” said Tomoo Hozumi, UNICEF’s Representative in Nepal. “The children need urgent life-saving assistance like clean water and shelter, but schools in emergencies even in a temporary setup. Going to school also allows children to regain a vital sense of routine that can help them come to terms with their experiences,” the official said. Almost 24,000 classrooms were damaged or destroyed in the 7.8 magnitude quake that hit the country 12 days ago.
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