The death toll from the devastating earthquake in Nepal climbed above 1,900 on Sunday and was continuing to rise as officials struggled to gauge the full scale of the disaster and the world rushed to provide desperately needed aid.
Dozens of aftershocks jolted Nepal on Saturday and Sunday as people sheltered where they could. Nepalese authorities continually revised the number of dead upwards a day after the Himalayan country was shaken by a magnitude 7.8 quake that wrecked houses, flattened centuries-old temples and triggered avalanches on Mount Everest.
More than 5,000 people had been injured, with the number of dead and injured expected to rise in the coming days. Nepalese police officials said more than 700 people died in Kathmandu alone.
International efforts to get search and rescue teams on the ground while there is still a chance of retrieving people alive from the rubble were gaining momentum on Sunday.
A man surveying the rubble on Sunday, a day after a massive earthquake struck near Katmandu, Nepal. (PHOTO: Narendra Shrestha:EPA) The US pledged $1m to the aid effort and said it would send a disaster response team, and Sri Lanka said it would contribute a plane with doctors, engineers and other supplies. Britain was sending a team of experts and a 68-strong search and rescue team from China was due to arrive later on Sunday.
India sent in military aircraft with medical equipment and relief teams. The Australian government pledged a $5m aid package.
Officials, families and aid agencies from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and other countries were trying to determine the whereabouts of their nationals in Nepal.
The full scale of the destruction was becoming apparent on Sunday. There were reports that the Gorkha district in west Nepal, close to the quake’s epicentre, had been hit particularly hard.
Roads to the district were blocked by landslides, hampering rescue efforts, said the chief district official, Prakash Subedi. Rescue teams were having to trek along mountain trails to reach remote villages, he said, adding that helicopters would be deployed as soon as possible.
The administrative chief of the western development region, Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, said: “So far 107 people have died in the district and we haven’t been able to send more support to three village development committees. We haven’t even started to count numbers of houses as there are hundreds of houses collapsed in the district.”
Among the buildings destroyed by the earthquake was the Unesco-listed Dharahara tower. The 60m tower was built in 1832 for the queen of Nepal. All the earthquake left of the lighthouse-like building was a jagged stump 10 metres high. Sujata Thapa, 22, said he was passing Dharahara when the earthquake struck. “I stood still. In a few seconds I saw Dharahara falling down. People were screaming.”
The tower had been a popular tourist destination and every weekend hundreds of people paid to go up to the viewing platform on its eighth storey. It is not immediately clear how many tourists were on the tower when it collapsed, though reports indicated that several bodies were later extracted from the ruins.
The earthquake was felt in India’s capital, New Delhi, and several other Indian cities. India’s prime minister,
Many structures collapsed, including the nine-story Dharahara Tower, which was built in 1832 as a watchtower on the orders of the queen. Several dozen people were thought to have been on a viewing platform at the tower when the quake hit. (PHOTO:Narendra Shrestha/EPA) Narendra Modi, called a meeting of top government officials to review the damage and how to respond in parts of India that felt strong tremors. The states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Sikkim, which share a border with Nepal, reported building damage. Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, offered “all possible help” that Nepal may need.
“The earthquake is the nightmare scenario which we have long discussed and wondered if we could make major improvements before a catastrophe occurred,” said Dr Ilan Kelman, of the institute for risk and disaster reduction, at University College, London.
“Nepal has some of the world’s best people and initiatives for community-based seismic risk reduction and earthquake education. But the country has also suffered terrible conflicts, poor governance and heart-wrenching poverty, all of which created and perpetuated the vulnerability which has been devastatingly exposed during the shaking.
“The pictures and reports emerging do not bode well for other earthquake-prone cities with similar vulnerabilities.”
