Aftershocks as quake toll passes 2,500

KATHMANDU: Powerful aftershocks rocked Nepal yesterday, panicking survivors of a quake that killed more than 2,500 and triggering fresh avalanches at Everest base camp, as rescuers dug with their bare hands through rubble in the devastated capital Kathmandu.

Terrified residents, many forced to camp out in the capital 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.

The aftershock rocked buildings in the Indian capital New Delhi and halted the city metro.

At overstretched hospitals, where medics were also treating patients in hastily erected tents, staff were forced to flee from buildings for fear of further collapses.

“Electricity has been cut off, communication systems are congested and hospital are crowded and are running out of room for storing dead bodies,” Oxfam Australia chief executive Helen Szoke told AFP.

Climbers reported that the aftershock caused more avalanches at Mount Everest, just after helicopters airlifted to safety those injured when a wall of snow hit base camp on Saturday, killing at least 17 people.

The deadliest disaster in Everest’s history comes almost exactly a year after an avalanche killed 16 sherpa guides, forcing the season to be cancelled, and as around 800 mountaineers were gathered at the start of the new season.

AFP’s Nepal bureau chief Ammu Kannampilly, who was on assignment at base camp, reported that six helicopters had managed to reach the mountain on Sunday after the weather improved overnight.

A stunning image captured by the agency’s South Asia photo chief Roberto Schmidt showed a massive cloud of snow and debris cascading onto base camp, burying scores of climbers and flattening tents.

“People being stretchered out as choppers land – half a dozen this morning,” Kannampilly said in a text message. “Weather clear, some snowfall.”

Offers of help poured in from around the world.

National police spokesman Kamal Singh Bam said the number known to have died in Nepal had risen to 2,152 while 4,629 people had been injured.

Officials in India said the toll there now stood at 57, while Chinese state media said 17 people had been killed in the Tibet region.

“We have deployed all our resources for search and rescues,” Bam told AFP. “Helicopters have been sent to remote areas. We are sifting through the rubble where buildings have collapsed to see if we can find anyone.”

Army officer Santosh Nepal and a group of rescuers worked all night to open a passage into a collapsed building in Kathmandu.

They had to use pick axes because bulldozers could not get through the ancient city’s narrow streets.

“We believe there are still people trapped inside,” he said, pointing at concrete debris and twisted reinforcement rods where a three-storey residential building once stood.

The Red Cross said it was concerned about the fate of villages near the epicentre of the quake northwest of Kathmandu.

The country’s cellphone network was working only sporadically, while large parts of the capital were without electricity.

AFP correspondents in Kathmandu reported that tremors were felt throughout the night, including one strong aftershock at dawn before the 6.7-magnitude follow-up quake that struck in the afternoon.

“It has been a sleepless night, how can we sleep? It has been shaking all night. We are just praying that this will end and we can return home,” said Nina Shrestha, a 34-year-old banker.

As rescuers sifted through the huge mounds of rubble in the capital, hospitals were overwhelmed with victims who suffered multiple fractures and trauma.

“We have treated many people since yesterday, the majority children,” said Samir Acharya, a doctor at Nepal’s Annapurna Neurological Hospital.

Weather forecasters warned that rain was on the way, with dark clouds looming over Kathmandu and promising more misery for displaced survivors. — AFP

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