Nepal earthquake: Six million people effected while death toll rising as reports coming from small towns. Expected death toll is over 7000
By Meenakhi Rana from Kathmandu and Monitoring Desk at Islamabad:
Earthquake hit Nepal is in the dire need of medicines and doctors as thousands of injured are reaching in hospitals while over 2000 deaths have been confirmed by the authorities.
A fresh 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck 17km south of Kodari, Nepal. According to USGS Earthquake Hazards Program website, earthquake epicenter was 10 Km deep at 17km (11mills) South of Kodari, 48km, Banepa, 51km, of Panaoti and 65km East of Kathmandu, Nepal.
Second heavy earthquake on Sunday created extreme sense of insecurity among people who spent last night in open places instead of their homes fearing more earthquakes and disasters.
Rapid response from India saved 550 mountain Nepalis as Indian Air Force started rescue operation. Nepal has officially requested China to help this landlocked mountainous neighboring country.
The capital city Kathmandu is giving a scene of devastated town where thousands of injured are lying inside as well as outside of hospitals where lack of medicine is causing serious problems for providing medical cover to people.
Rescue operations are concentrating only Kathmandu while information from smaller town are reaching slowly and rescue operations are yet to be started in mountain areas. Nepal is house of over 300 international Non government organizations (NGOs) and hundreds of foreigners are stranded and trapped at smaller towns.
Electricity distribution and communication networking have severely damaged due to earthquake measuring 7.9 on richter scale hit Nepal on Saturday morning. Water supply is also badly damaged and majority of roads have cracked, damaging sewer, drainage and water supply.
Over 800 persons are still missing only in Kathmandu district while Lalitpur district has 230 missing persons.
Kathmandu airport is damaged due to earthquake but is still operational.
Official quarters are of the view that food supply from India and China must be initiated because warehouses are badly damaged and over 72% food gowdons are situation in Kathmandu. Nepal gets over 90% fuel supplies comes from India. Massive help is needed from India and neighboring countries said one reporter from Kathmandu. Lack of communication to remote areas and disruption of road network can cause more deaths as rescue operation is only concentrating Kathmandu. Lack of electricity is also making things difficult for rescue people.
Nepal announced State of emergency in the country on Saturday night and engineers are trying to reactivate telecommunication networking in Kathmandu and other districts while Indian cell phone companies launched free calls to and from Nepal on Saturday night.
Reports coming from mountains areas suggested that avalanches had disrupted roads network and 17 mountaineers are confirmed dead at Mount Everest.
The land mark of Katmandu–the historic Dharahara Tower was collapsed due to earthquake. Tower was also called Bhimsen Tower.
203 feet tower was built in 1832 by the then Prime Minister of Nepal Bhimsen Thapa. The tower had a spiral staircase containing 213 steps.
The epicenter of the earthquake was 80 kilometers northwest of Kathmandu, and it also caused the collapse of several buildings in the center of Nepal’s capital including centuries-old temples.
The massive tremors were also felt across eastern and northern parts of India, and according to the Indian officials, at least 20 people have so far been killed while dozens have sustained injuries in the countries as a result of the earthquake.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences to those affected by the earthquake.
“The Russian leader expresses words of sincere sympathy and support to the families and friends of the victims and wishes speedy recovery to all those who suffered in the disaster,” said a statement.
Prime Minister of Pakistan Mian Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister of India Narindra Modi have announced immediate relief work and sent rescue parties from their countries to Kathmandu. The repair work of Kathmandu will be done by Pakistan, reports Pakistani state media.
The seismic record of the region, extending back to 1255, suggests that earthquakes of this size occur approximately every 75 years, indicating that a devastating earthquake is inevitable in the long term. The greatest earthquake in the region was in year 2005 when over 70,000 people were killed in earthquake that hit Pakistani administrative Kashmir and Kaghan Valley. Dr. Kamal Banskota of ICIMOD predicted earthquake in the region well before it actually occurred. Read detail research report about October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan and India to click here.
