Hundreds of people have been killed after a 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal and India with the most severe damage seen in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu. The quake also caused an avalanche on Mount Everest.
Sunday, April 26
The governments of neighboring India and Pakistan have deployed emergency assistance to Nepal. At least 13 Indian Air Force aircraft with six Mi-17 helicopters were sent to Kathmandu, accompanied by 10 National Disaster Response Force teams, Indian Foreign Secretary Jaishankar said on Sunday, according to INS news agency.
“Four C-130 aircraft carrying a 30-bed hospital, special search and rescue teams including Army doctors and food items left for Nepal,” Pakistani Director General Inter-Services Public Relations, Asim Bajwa tweeted on Sunday.
The Indian Meteorological Department has predicted widespread rain with thundershowers over Nepal on Sunday, PTI News reported. “The activity is most likely to become widespread on 27 and 28 April with the possibility of isolated heavy thunderstorm activity, particularly over eastern part of Nepal,” according to the press release. The rain predictions in the Kathmandu area also suggest that already vulnerable sites could suffer landslides.
The Netherlands is sending 62 rescuers and eight rescue dogs to Nepal to help the search and rescue operations in the debris left by the earthquake. The Dutch airplane will also carry 4 tons of humanitarian aid from Doctors Without Borders. The Dutch government has promised to provide €4 million worth of aid to the affected area.
Sunday’s 6.7 aftershock earthquake has brought the total loss of human lives to 2,400. More than 6,200 are listed as injured, but with no degree of severity indicated.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an emergency meeting with officials to discuss efforts to help evacuate and support the earthquake-stricken area in Nepal.
“India is with Nepal in this hour of crisis… rescue operations are a priority,” Modi said today in his monthly radio address.
Clean drinking water, food, medical aid, and shelter will be among the top priority. There are already 16 relief stations being set up in the capital city of Katmandu.
Three American citizens are reported to have died in Nepal, the State Department said Sunday.
Denmark is sending $730,000 in emergency aid to Nepal. “It is a terrible situation for Nepal, which is one of the world’s poorest countries. Therefore it is important for us to be there with support and help,” Development Minister Mogens Jensen said. More aid could be on its way, as the minister said he is“clearly ready to contribute more if there is a need for it.” From 200 to 400 Danes could currently be in Nepal, according to travel agencies.
The death toll in the Nepalese earthquake has reached 2,200, making the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal and India the most severe in more than 80 years, since the 8.1-magnitude earthquake of 1934 which killed 10,700 people in both countries. Problems with electricity and communication networks in Nepal’s capital persist. “Hospitals are crowded and are running out of room for storing dead bodies,” Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Helen Szoke told AFP.
Russia is dispatching aircraft with highly-qualified rescue teams to Nepal, reported Deputy Emergency Minister Vladimir Stepanov. The first two flights are set to leave Moscow at 4pm (13:00 GMT), with more to follow within the nearest future. The teams will arrive with all the necessary equipment and are expected to undertake rescue operations immediately upon arrival. The ministry, working in close collaboration with the national embassy in Nepal, has confirmed that initial data suggests there have been no fatalities among Russian citizens due to the Nepalese earthquake.
The death toll in the Nepalese earthquake has reached 2,200, making the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal and India the most severe in more than 80 years, since the 8.1-magnitude earthquake of 1934 which killed 10,700 people in both countries. Problems with electricity and communication networks in Nepal’s capital persist. “Hospitals are crowded and are running out of room for storing dead bodies,” Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Helen Szoke told AFP.
Russia is dispatching aircraft with highly-qualified rescue teams to Nepal, reported Deputy Emergency Minister Vladimir Stepanov. The first two flights are set to leave Moscow at 4pm (13:00 GMT), with more to follow within the nearest future. The teams will arrive with all the necessary equipment and are expected to undertake rescue operations immediately upon arrival. The ministry, working in close collaboration with the national embassy in Nepal, has confirmed that initial data suggests there have been no fatalities among Russian citizens due to the Nepalese earthquake.
The new 6.7 magnitude earthquake in Nepal that occurred at 07:09 GMT on Sunday unleashed new multiple avalanches in the Himalayas. The new tremor was powerful enough to shake buildings as far away as the Indian capital, New Delhi, and halted the city’s Metro, Reuters reports.“There is no way one can forecast the intensity of aftershocks so people need to be alert for the next few days,” India’s chief of the state-run weather service, LS Rathore, told Reuters.
Russia’s Science and Culture Center in Nepal has provided assistance to 250 Russian nationals, spokesman Sergey Shatunov told TASS. A tent camp in front of the center is providing shelter to 100 Russian tourists. So far there’s been no news of Russian citizens dying in Nepal following the devastating earthquakes and multiple aftershocks on Sunday.
An avalanche on Mount Everest triggered by the Nepal earthquake has killed 65 alpinists, CNN-IBN reported. Seventeen bodies have already been recovered, among them top Google executive Dan Fredinburg, 33, who was part of the Jagged Globe expedition team. Hundreds of foreign climbers are feared dead in what might become the worst catastrophe in the history of mountaineering. So far 61 alpinists have been reported injured, according to the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, Ang Tshering Sherpa. It is believed that no fewer than 1,000 climbers remain on Everest’s slopes awaiting evacuation, but heavy weather conditions are hampering the rescue operation.
A fresh 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck 17km south of Kodari, Nepal, following the 7.9 quake that hit on Saturday and has killed more than 1,900. Kodali is an alpine village on the China-Nepal border that had a recorded population of 1600 in 2012.
AP reported the tremor as a “major aftershock,” but others observed that the sheer size of the shake constitutes it as a second earthquake. People near the epicenter were yelling and running for open ground, AP said.
There are so far no official reports of casualties or damage from the latest quake.
The earthquake triggered an avalanche in the Himalayan Mountains, as well as tremors in the Indian capital, New Delhi, more than 1000km away.
The death toll in the earthquake has exceeded 2,000 people, according to officials cited by AFP.
Two hundred and fifty Israelis in Nepal remain “out of touch” according to a Foreign Ministry spokesman cited by the Yeshiva World News. The official added that “according to the information available, all Israelis seem to be safe and sound”. A further 150 Israelis are in the Kathmandu Consulate.
Almost 350 Australians are unaccounted for in Nepal. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said 549 Australians were registered as traveling to the quake-struck country. So far the Australian Embassy was only able to confirm that 200 of them are safe.
“While there are reports of extensive loss of life, at this point there are no reports of Australian deaths,” Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said in a statement.
