Nepal Earthquake Toll Could Reach 10,000, : PM Sushil Koirala
KATHMANDU: The death toll in Nepal’s earthquake could reach 10,000, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala told Reuters on Tuesday, ordering intensified rescue efforts and appealing for foreign supplies of tents and medicines.”The death toll could go up to 10,000 because information from remote villages hit by the earthquake is yet to come in,” Mr Koirala said in an interview.
“The government is doing all it can for rescue and relief on a war footing,” he added. “It is a challenge and a very difficult hour for Nepal.”A home ministry official put the latest death toll at 4,349. If the death toll does reach 10,000, that would be even higher than the 8,500 killed in a massive 1934 quake, the Himalayan nation’s worst disaster to date.
Koirala was abroad when the 7.9 magnitude quake struck on Saturday. He returned on Sunday. He has issued orders to his government to improve coordination of the relief effort and will address the nation later on Tuesday, an aide said.Appealing for foreign assistance, PM Koirala said Nepal needed tents and medicines. Many people are sleeping out of doors because their homes have been destroyed or may not withstand the dozens of aftershocks that have hit the country, he said.
“The government needs tents, much medicine. People are sleeping in fields and rains,” he said. “There are more than 7,000 people injured. Their treatment and rehabilitation is going to be a big challenge.”International aid has finally begun arriving in the Himalayan nation of 28 million people, three days after the quake struck, but disbursement is slow.A crush at the main international airport, where relief material and rescue teams are flying in while thousands of residents are trying to leave, has slowed the flow of aid.
The United Nations said eight million people were affected by the quake and that 1.4 million people were in need of food.
An AN-32 aircraft with two tons of food material lands at Pokhara airfield, says Defence Ministry.Nepal’s ambassador to India Deep Upadhyay thanks Indian Air Force for bringing relief material.Over 8 million people have been affected by the massive Nepal quake, says UNIndia’s organisation Vishva Hindu Parishad said it would offer extensive support to quake-ravaged Nepal by helping to rebuild residential houses, temples and shrines which have been flattened by the devastating temblor. The VHP will also bring orphaned children from the country to India and provide for their education and upbringing at its numerous educational institutions spread across the country.
The US praises India’s leadership role in helping earthquake-hit Nepal. “India has demonstrated its global leadership in recent weeks, first in Yemen and now in Nepal. We are grateful; we are impressed; we are inspired. And because our cooperation is expanding, India is using C-17s and C-130s on the front lines of its response,” US Ambassador to India Richard Verma said.India presses six more teams of NDRF personnel into its relief and rescue operations in Nepal.
With the induction of the new teams on the fourth day of the disaster, the total number of National Disaster Response Force teams in Nepal has gone up to 16 with 10 already engaged in rescue operations there for the last few days. Each NDRF team has about 45 personnel.GIC Re, the largest re-insurer in Nepal, said the company is expecting to pay a whopping Rs 1,000-crore claim against the damages caused by earthquake.
The company hinted that it may increase its reinsurance premium in Nepal in the future.The Indian Railways have added additional coaches in several trains for different destinations to accommodate the families of those hit by devastating earthquake in Nepal.A convoy comprising 5,000 blankets,500 tents, 50 tarpaulin and 800 plastic sheets left for Pokhra from COD Kanpur today.
