NEPAL QUAKE
8 million people affected by Nepal quake: UN
The Nation


Thai air force officers move aid boxes ready to be loaded into a C-130 military transport aircraft in preparation for aid support to earthquake victims./EPA

BANGKOK: -- Eight million people in Nepal need humanitarian assistance following the devastating earthquake on Saturday, the United Nations said Tuesday.

In its report, it said more than 1.4 million need food, especially as search and rescue teams reach more remote areas, many of which remain cut off due to road blockages and network failures. A day after the quake, the UN estimated the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance to hit 6 million.

"Humanitarian aid is beginning to flow into the worst-affected areas, but much more is needed as the scale of this disaster becomes all too clear - including medical tents, medication, surgical kits and body bags," it said.

In response to the devastation, UN Humanitarian Chief, Valerie Amos today released US$15 million today from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to allow international humanitarian aid organisations to rapidly scale up operations and provide immediate assistance to people in desperate need.

"With the monsoon season just two months away, we will be in a race against time to ensure that people affected by the earthquake receive the aid they require and to prevent a secondary crisis," said Humanitarian Chief Valerie Amos.

A five-person team from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has already arrived in Kathmandu and a 22-person team of United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) is on its way to support the UN Resident Coordinator, the Humanitarian Country Team and the national authorities with response coordination, rapid needs assessment and information management.

As of Tuesday, according to the UN, at least 9 international Urban Search and Rescue teams have arrived from countries like Turkey, Spain and India, consisting of 287 personnel and 25 dogs, as well as foreign medical teams. A Humanitarian Staging Area (HSA) in Kathmandu International Airport has been set-up to avoid congestion at the main entry points of affected areas and ease the flow of life-saving commodities, where large-scale relief activities are being undertaken.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/8-million-people-affected-by-Nepal-quake-UN-30258915.html


-- The Nation 2015-04-28

NEPAL QUAKE
Nepal PM says toll could be 10,000

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - The death toll from Nepal's devastating earthquake could reach 10,000, the prime minister said on Tuesday, as residents frustrated by the government's slow response used their bare hands to dig for signs of their loved ones.

"The government is doing all it can for rescue and relief on a war footing," Prime Minister Sushil Koirala told Reuters. "It is a challenge and a very difficult hour for Nepal."

International aid has finally begun arriving in the Himalayan nation of 28 million people, three days after Saturday’s 7.9 magnitude quake, but disbursement is slow. According to the home (interior) ministry, the confirmed death toll stands at 4,349, with over 7,000 injured.

Koirala did not say on what he was estimating the leap in the death toll, but the government has said it is still to establish contact with some remote regions.

"The death toll could go up to 10,000 because information from remote villages hit by the earthquake is yet to come in," he said.

The United Nations said 8 million people were affected by the quake and that 1.4 million people were in need of food.

Nepal’s most deadly quake in 81 years also triggered a huge avalanche on Mount Everest that killed at least 17 climbers and guides, including four foreigners, the worst single disaster on the world’s highest peak.

All of the climbers who had been stranded at camps high up Everest had been flown by helicopters to safety, mountaineers reported on Tuesday.

A series of aftershocks, severe damage from the quake, creaking infrastructure and a lack of funds have slowed rescue efforts in the impoverished, mountainous country sandwiched between India and China. In the capital Kathmandu, youths and relatives of victims were digging into the ruins of destroyed buildings and landmarks.

"Waiting for help is more torturous than doing this ourselves," said Pradip Subba, searching for the bodies of his brother and sister-in-law in the debris of Kathmandu’s historic Dharahara tower. The 19th century minaret collapsed on Saturday as weekend sightseers clambered up its spiral stairs.

"Our hands are the only machine right now," said the27-year-old, part of a group of locals pulling out bricks and blocks of concrete with cloth masks over their faces to ward off the stench of rotting bodies. "There is just no one from the government or the army to help us."

Scores of people were killed in the collapse of the tower.

Elsewhere in the capital’s ancient Durbar Square, groups of young men cleared rubble from around an ancient temple, using pickaxes, shovels and their bare hands. A few policemen stood by, watching.

The head of neighbouring India’s National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), one of the first foreign organisations to arrive in Nepal to help in the search and rescue effort, said finding survivors and the bodies of the dead would take time.

NDRF Director General O.P. Singh said heavy equipment could not fit through many of the narrow streets of Kathmandu.

"You have to remove all this rubble, so that will take a lot of time ... I think it’s going to take weeks," he told Indian television channel NDTV late on Monday.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/Nepal-PM-says-toll-could-be-10000-30258919.html


-- The Nation 2015-04-28

I keep seeing tourists lined up and ready to depart at the airport with their luggage. Just seems to me in this situation that there should be no room for luggage. Need to get as many out of there and out of the way as soon as possible. They don't need to be taking up space and resources. Leave the bags behind. Might say the same thing about all these journalists parachuting in. Why are they taking up the very limited space on aid flights into Nepal? I don't need to see CNNers waving their arms and expressing no small amount of shadenfreude.

i wonder if the humanitarian aid people will need work permits, makes me wonder what would happen in thai if there was a natural disaster and aid workers came here

i wonder if the humanitarian aid people will need work permits, makes me wonder what would happen in thai if there was a natural disaster and aid workers came here

Read about Thailand after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

Patong Beach, Thailand