From Prashant Rangnekar
Kathmandu

The death toll in the devastating earthquake that has rocked Nepal climbed to over 4,350 today with more than 8,000 others injured, as Prime Minister Sushil Koirala admitted that the rescue and relief operations have not been effective.

Crisis loomed over quake-hit Nepal with an acute shortage of food, water, electricity and medicines as fear of another quake kept tens of thousands of people out into the open.

At least 4,352 bodies have so far been recovered after Saturday’s massive earthquake that struck just outside of capital Kathmandu, a Nepalese police official said. A further 8,063 people have been injured in the quake.

Hundreds of people are still trapped under tonnes of rubble in the capital Kathmandu and some of the worst-affected remote mountainous areas amid concerns that toll could cross 5,000 mark, authorities said.

The government has announced nine districts as highly-affected areas.

Based on human casualty, Sindhupalchowk, Kathmandu, Nuwakot, Dhading, Bhaktapur, Gorkha, Kavre, Lalitpur and Rasuwa have been declared as the most-affected districts.

The government has said that altogether 60 districts have been affected by the earthquake.

Of those killed in the earthquake, 923 are from Kathmandu, 240 from Bhaktapur and 157 from Lalitpur while the rest are from outside the Kathmandu Valley.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sushil 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.

Post-quake management is challenging, Koirala said in an all-party meeting organised yesterday by Constituent Assembly Chairman Subas Nembang.

The government is receiving requests from across the country for help, he was quoted as saying by ‘My Republica’.

It had been unable to extend rescue efforts to several places due to a crunch of logistics and experts.

The Prime Minister said the government was serious and sensitive about relief distribution and rehabilitation of the affected people.

The government was preparing to send tents, water, medicine, health workers and volunteers to the affected areas.

The Premier also appealed to the people to donate blood.

The quake that flattened homes and buildings and the subsequent powerful aftershocks have forced people out to live in the open under plastic tents, barely shielding them from cold and rains that have pounded the city.

Eight million people have been affected by the devastating earthquake, the United Nations said today.

More than 1.4 million need food, while water and shelter are also in short supply, the UN said in a report.

Three days after the quake hit the country, rescue teams have still not reached some of the worst-affected areas of Lamjung, the site of the quake’s epicentre.

“We are still at the rescue and relief operation. Rescue operation is going on even within the valley, collapsed structures are major challenge still. There have been requests from many places, we have been able to attend to some. We are still trying to put together group of people here, expertise is needed from various areas,” Nepal’s Information and Communications Minister Minendra Rijal said.

“Now we move from rescue operation to more of a relief operation. For relief operation, medical supplies are important, drinking water is important, experts who can come and restore electricity is important, without it hospitals can’t function,” Rijal told a TV channel.

“More medical supplies, doctors who have speciality in handling situation of this sort, orthopaedics, surgeons, anaesthetics are needed. There are standard operating procedures as far as relief operation are concerned. We need support for relief operation…more medicines are needed,” he said.

Mass cremations are being held for the victims of the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal, even as rescuers continued to pull out bodies buried under the rubble of flattened homes and buildings.

Hundreds were cremated in open grounds as funeral pyres burned with families of victims wailing in grief after losing their loved ones.

Nepal has issued epidemic and health warnings, media reports said.

Tibet earthquake toll rises to 25; 117 injured

From K J M Varma
Beijing

The death toll in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region due to Saturday’s earthquake and its aftershocks, climbed to 25 today, even as rescuers continued to reach out to the affected people in the remotest of areas.

Besides, a total of 117 have sustained injuries, state- run Xinhua news agency reported.

The 7.9 Richter Scale temblor that struck Nepal on Saturday also affected parts of Tibet. The two border ports to Nepal were seriously affected. The earthquake also affected the south-western part of Tibet, especially Xigaze City.

The city has 18 counties and prefectures, and a population of more than 700,000.

The counties of Gyirong, Nyalam and Tingri were most affected. Nearly 80 per cent of the houses in the three counties have collapsed.

The earthquake tragedy in Nepal, worst in over 80 years in the Himalayan nation, has so far left over 4,000 dead, including five Indians, and about 7,000 others injured.

The number of casualties is likely to increase as access and communication returns to normal, a spokesperson of the headquarters said.

“We worry most about Zham Town. Rescue work there is particularly difficult because the road to the town is blocked,” Mayor of Xigaze City Zhang Hongbo said.

Zhang added that Zham Town has felt more than 20 aftershocks, which have caused landslides and avalanches.

The town is in short supply of food and bottled water.

Food stocks will last likely only for three days.

A 37-km highway linking Nyalam County with Zham has been blocked by multiple landslides.

Rescuers are still working to clear an important tunnel that winds through high mountains.

Entire work of Raja Ravi Verma has been exhibitted at one place in Heritage Art Gallery in Vadodara.

– PTI