Aftershocks panic quake survivors
Print Edition
POWERFUL aftershocks rocked Nepal yesterday, panicking survivors of a quake that killed more than 2,500 people and triggering fresh avalanches at Everest base camp.
Rescuers were digging through rubble in the devastated capital of Kathmandu.
Terrified residents, many forced to camp out in the city after Saturday’s quake reduced buildings to rubble, were jolted by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock that compounded the worst disaster to hit the impoverished Himalayan nation in more than 80 years.
At overstretched hospitals, where medics were treating patients in hastily erected tents, staff were forced to flee buildings for fear of further collapses.
“Electricity has been cut off, communication systems are congested and hospitals are crowded and are running out of room for storing dead bodies,” Oxfam Australia chief executive Helen Szoke told reporters.
Climbers reported that the aftershock caused more avalanches on Mount Everest, just after helicopters airlifted to safety those injured when a wall of snow hit base camp on Saturday, killing at least 18 people.
The deadliest disaster in Everest’s history comes as around 800 mountaineers were gathered at the start of the new season.
Offers of help poured in from around the world, with dozens of nations or aid groups volunteering everything from sniffer dogs to an inflatable hospital.
The Kathmandu-based National Emergency Operation Center put the toll in Nepal at 2,448 and said a further 6,239 had been injured.
The death toll in China’s Tibet rose to 18 yesterday.
Officials in India said the toll there now stood at 67.
“We have deployed all our resources for search and rescues,” police spokesman Kamal Singh Bam said. “Helicopters have been sent to remote areas. We are sifting through the rubble where buildings have collapsed to see if we can find anyone.”
The fresh aftershocks forced Kathmandu airport to close for around an hour as air traffic controllers evacuated their center. Several flights had to be diverted in mid-air.
The country’s cellphone network was working only sporadically, while large parts of the capital were without electricity.
Reporters in Kathmandu said that tremors were felt throughout the day, including one strong aftershock at dawn before the 6.7-magnitude follow-up quake that struck in the afternoon.
The historic nine-story Dharahara tower, a major tourist attraction, was among the buildings brought down in Kathmandu on Saturday.
Police said around 150 people were thought to have been in the tower at the time of the disaster.
“At least 30 dead bodies have been pulled out. We don’t have a number on the rescued but over 20 injured were helped out,” Bishwa Raj Pokharel, a local police official said.
“We haven’t finished our work there, rescue work is still continuing. Right now, we are not in a position to estimate how many might be trapped.”
Nepal and the rest of the Himalayas are particularly prone to earthquakes because of the collision of the Indian and Eurasia plates.
A 6.8-magnitude quake hit eastern Nepal in 1988 killing 721 people, and an 8.1-magnitude quake killed 10,700 people in Nepal and India in 1934.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
