Kathmandu, April 27: Hit by severe shortage of food, water, electricity and medicines and buffeted by fear, tens of thousands of people are out in the open here as quake-hit Nepal Monday desperately sought international help to tide over a looming crisis with death toll soaring to over 3,700.
A well-known Telugu movie choreographer, 21-year-old Vijay, was killed in a road accident in rain and aftershock of the temblor in the early hours of Monday when his film unit was on its way to Kathmandu. Seven women from Assam were also feared killed in the quake Saturday.
More than 48 hours after the 7.9 magnitude temblor shook the Himalayan nation, injuring more than 8,000 people and leaving thousands more homeless, multi-nation rescue teams, including from India, carried out relief works.
Armed with modern equipment, dumpers and earth removers and aided by sniffer dogs, disaster relief workers were trying to locate possible survivors against fading hopes.
The quake that flattened homes and buildings and the subsequent powerful aftershocks forced people out to live in the open under plastic tents barely shielding them from cold and rains that pounded the city last night.
Fuel and medicines were also in short supply. The picture was the same in suburbs of Kathmandu and in other rural areas.
Nepal’s top bureaucrat Leela Mani Paudel said the immediate and big challenge was relief. “We urge foreign countries to give us special relief materials and medical teams. We are really desperate for more foreign expertise to pull through this crisis,” he said. PTI