Buildings collapse, at least four killed as 7.9 quake hits Nepal, India-witnesses

Desperate Nepalese sleep in open as aftershocks spread fear Sun, Apr 26 18:54 PM EDT image 1 of 35 By Gopal Sharma and Sanjeev Miglani KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Thousands of desperate Nepalese spent another night in the open in the early hours of Monday, terrorized by strong aftershocks that continued to shake the country two days after a massive quake struck, killing almost 2,500 people. Across the capital, Kathmandu, and beyond, exhausted families whose homes were either flattened or at risk of collapse laid mattresses out on streets and erected tents to shelter from rain. The sick and wounded also lay out in the open, unable to find beds in the city's overwhelmed hospitals. Outside Kathmandu Medical College, surgeons set up an operating theater inside a tent. People queued for water dispensed from the back of trucks, while the few stores still open had next to nothing on their shelves. Crowds jostled at one pharmacy to snap up medicine. High in the Himalayas, hundreds of foreign and Nepalese climbers remained trapped after a huge avalanche killed 17 people in the worst single disaster to hit Mount Everest. A total of 2,460 people were confirmed killed in the 7.9 magnitude quake, making it the worst such disaster to hit Nepal since 1934 when 8,500 died. Thousands more were injured. The death toll is likely to climb as rescue workers struggle to reach remote regions in the impoverished, mountainous country of 28 million people and as bodies still buried under rubble are recovered. With so many people sleeping in the open with no power or water and downpours forecast, fears mounted of major food and water shortages. Across the country, hundreds of villages have been left to fend for themselves. "We are overwhelmed with rescue and assistance requests from all across the country," said Deepak Panda, a member of the country's disaster management. Several countries rushed to send aid and personnel. India flew in medical supplies and members of its National Disaster Response Force. China sent a 60-strong emergency team. Pakistan's army said it was sending four C-130 aircraft with a 30-bed hospital, search and rescue teams and relief supplies. A Pentagon spokesman said a U.S. military aircraft with 70 personnel left the United States on Sunday and was due in Kathmandu on Monday. Australia said it was sending a specialist urban search and rescue team to Kathmandu at Nepal's request. Britain, which believes several hundred of its nationals are in Nepal, said it was delivering supplies, medics and search and rescue teams. But there has been little sign of international assistance on the ground so far, with some aid flights prevented from landing by aftershocks that closed Kathmandu's main airport several times on Sunday. AVALANCHE TERROR In the Himalayas, hundreds of climbers were still feeling tremors on Sunday powerful enough to send snow and boulders cascading toward them. The huge and deadly avalanche on Saturday triggered by the earthquake caused panic at Everest base camp, a sprawling "city" of tents from where mountaineers set off for the world's highest peak. "It was a monstrous sound, like the demons had descended on the mountain," Khile Sherpa, a Nepalese guide, told Reuters, recalling the moment the avalanche hit. He was one of the lucky few airlifted to the relative safety of Kathmandu, although hospitals there were overflowing and hundreds of patients had to wait outside to be treated. The disaster has underlined the woeful state of Nepal's medical facilities. The country has only 2.1 physicians and 50 hospital beds for every 10,000 people, according to a 2011 World Health Organization report. "The earthquake has exposed that Nepal's best public hospital infrastructure has crumbled at a time when it should serve more people in a hurry," said Sarvendra Moongla, a senior surgeon at Bir Hospital's Trauma Centre in Kathmandu, which opened in February. At the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, bodies, including that of a boy aged about seven, were heaped in a dark room. The stench of death was overpowering. Outside, a 30-year-old woman who had been widowed wailed: "Oh Lord, why did you take him alone? Take me along with him." COUNTING THE COST Rajiv Biswas, Asia Pacific chief economist at business research firm IHS, said long-term reconstruction costs in Nepal using proper building standards for an earthquake zone could be more than $5 billion, or around 20 percent of the country's GDP. "With housing construction standards in Nepal being extremely low ... the impact of the earthquake has been devastating based on initial reports," he said in an early analysis of the likely damage. In crowded Kathmandu, many buildings were flattened or badly damaged. Nepali army officer Santosh Nepal and a group of rescuers worked all night on Saturday to open a passage into a collapsed building in Kathmandu. They used pick axes because bulldozers could not get through the ancient city's narrow streets. "We believe there are still people trapped inside," he told Reuters, pointing at concrete debris and twisted reinforcement rods where a three-storey residential building once stood. Among the capital's landmarks destroyed in the earthquake was the 60-metre (200-foot) Dharahara Tower, built in 1832 for the queen of Nepal. (Additional reporting by Ross Adkin and Rupam Jain Nair in Kathmandu; Frank Jack Daniel, Mayank Bhardwaj, Krista Mahr, Amit Ganguly and Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Robert Birsel in Islamabad, Neha Dasgupta and Clara Ferreira-Marques in Mumbai and Norihiko Shirouzo in Beijing; Writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Mark Bendeich) ============================= Top Google executive killed in Nepal quake, 100’s of foreign tourists missing Published time: April 26, 2015 02:27 Get short URL Google X executive Dan Fredinburg and host Sophia Bush (Michael Buckner/Getty Images for VH1/AFP) Google X executive Dan Fredinburg and host Sophia Bush (Michael Buckner/Getty Images for VH1/AFP) Tags Asia, Australia, China, Earthquake, Extreme sports, India, Information Technology, Japan, Natural disasters, UK, USA The head of privacy at the secretive Google X facility was one of the 18 people killed in an avalanche at Mount Everest, triggered by the Nepal earthquake. Hundreds of foreign nationals are also feared dead or are missing. Follow RT's Live Updates: Devastating 7.9-magnitude quake strikes Nepal, India Dan Fredinburg, 33, was part of the Jagged Globe expedition team that was tackling Mount Everest when the 7.9-magnidue quake shook Nepal, according to Jagged Globe and his family. He died of fatal head injury. Fredinburg headed the Google X research lab, which is in charge of developing projects like self-driving cars, drone deliveries, Google Glass, and contact lenses. Fredinburg’s sister posted the news of her brother’s death on social media. The manager’s former girlfriend actress Sophia Bush also published an emotional post on Instagram. An army spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that a mountaineering team from the Indian military had discovered 18 bodies on Mount Everest on Saturday. A spokesman for the Nepal Tourism Ministry, Gyanendra Shrestha said that two tents at the camp have been filled with wounded climbers. The Tourism ministry added that about 1,000 climbers, including around 400 foreigners, were present at base camp or were climbing Everest when the earthquake struck. Around 300,000 foreign tourists come to Nepal each spring for activities like climbing, trekking and hiking, according to Reuters. Those climbers who survived were pleading for help. Romanian mountaineer Alex Gavan was urging the authorities to support the rescue mission with helicopters: “Many dead. Much more badly injured. More to die if not heli asap.” Carsten Lillelund Pedersen, a Danish climber, said there were at least 40 people being treated for injuries, adding that the avalanches were hitting the mountain one after the other. It was “difficult to see the following avalanches, and there are so many - maybe one every 5 min. - that I have stopped counting,” Pedersen said on Facebook. Communication remains difficult, as the network is down in the area. “It is almost impossible to get in touch with anyone,” said the joint secretary for the Nepalese Tourism Ministry, Mohan Krishna Sapkota. Many people have turned to social media in asking for help in locating their relatives who travelled to Nepal. They have posted pictures of the missing people with their descriptions. Others have said they will travel to Nepal themselves, believing they can be more productive on the ground. Officials are reportedly being overwhelmed by the number of calls they are receiving from friends and relatives of foreign nationals whose whereabouts are unknown. Meanwhile, those who experienced the quake in the Nepalese capital said the streets were filled with screaming people: “We were thrown around the room fairly comprehensively, we managed to get out. From where we were, we could see dust rising from the hills of Kathmandu, we could people screaming in the street,” Mark South from the International Red Cross told UK’s Channel 4 News. Many people in Nepal are choosing to sleep outside, due to the fear of aftershocks. The death toll has risen to 1,805 and another 4,718 people have been injured as a result of the Nepal earthquake, an unnamed official from Nepal’s Home Ministry told Reuters. Local authorities are scrambling to set up rescue missions, warning that the number of those killed could rise. The number of fatalities from the earthquake in India has reached 36 people, according to Reuters. Tremors were also felt in Chinese Tibet where 12 people were killed, with four deaths also recorded in Bangladesh. Two Chinese citizens are said to have died at the Nepal-China border. At least 47 Australians are unaccounted for in Nepal, Channel 9 reported citing an unconfirmed count by the International Red Cross. Canada’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said that 388 Canadians were registered in Nepal at the time of the quake. However, they warned that registration is only voluntary, meaning that the actual number could be a lot higher. Dozens of Britons are also missing, according to local media. Google has created a person finder page for the Nepal disaster, where people can either list a missing person, or provide information of someone’s whereabouts. It is currently tracking about 2,500 records of missing or found people, which can be searched by sending an SMS with the name of a person to Indian or US numbers. Facebook also added a feature, allowing anyone to mark themselves as being "safe during Nepal Earthquake." ================ Nepal seeks help, death toll seen rising after devastating quake Source: Reuters - Sun, 26 Apr 2015 08:30 GMT Author: Reuters hum-nat hum-aid Enlarge image People survey a site damaged by an earthquake, in Kathmandu, Nepal, April 25, 2015. The shallow earthquake measuring 7.9 magnitude struck west of the ancient Nepali capital of Kathmandu on Saturday, killing more than 100 people, injuring hundreds and leaving a pall over the valley, doctors and witnesses said. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar * U.S., Britain, Pakistan offer help in rescue effort * Death toll in Nepal quake seen rising * Thousands sleep in open, afraid homes will collapse * Fears of humanitarian crisis in impoverished nation By Gopal Sharma and Ross Adkin KATHMANDU, April 26 (Reuters) - Nepal urged countries to send aid to help it cope with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that killed more than 1,800 people, a toll officials said would rise as the desperate search for survivors continued on Sunday. As fears of a humanitarian disaster grew, thousands of people braved freezing temperatures to sleep on pavements, in parks or in fields, too afraid to return to homes damaged by a 7.9 magnitude quake which struck at midday on Saturday. "We have launched a massive rescue and rehabilitation action plan and lots needs to be done," said Information and Broadcasting Minister Minendra Rijal. "Our country is in a moment of crisis and we will require tremendous support and aid," he told Indian television. The home ministry said on Sunday the death toll had reached 1,805 and 4,718 people had been injured. A police spokesman said that more than 630 of them were killed in Kathmandu Valley and at least 300 more in the capital. Foreign climbers and their Nepalese guides around Mount Everest were caught by the tremors and a huge avalanche. Some took to social media to send desperate messages for assistance, warning that otherwise more people would die. Hospitals across the impoverished nation of 28 million people struggled to cope with the dead and injured from Nepal's worst quake in 81 years, and a lack of equipment meant rescuers could look no deeper than surface rubble for signs of life. Ramesh Pokharel, a staff member of the Bhaktapur Hospital on the outskirts of Kathmandu, said that around 50 bodies were lying in a field outside. Doctors were treating patients in a makeshift tent next to the main building, and staff were too busy to count or register names of the casualties. "It's chaos here," Pokharel said. PEOPLE STILL TRAPPED The earthquake, centred 50 miles (80 km) east of the second city, Pokhara, was all the more destructive for being shallow. Areas of Kathmandu were reduced to rubble, and rescue operations had still not begun in some remote areas. Among the capital's landmarks destroyed in the earthquake was the 60-metre-high (100-foot) Dharahara Tower, built in 1832 for the queen of Nepal, with a viewing balcony that had been open to visitors for the last 10 years. A jagged stump 10 metres high was all that was left of the lighthouse-like structure. As bodies were pulled from the ruins, a policeman said up to 200 people had been trapped inside. Across the city, rescuers scrabbled through the rubble of destroyed buildings, among them ancient, wooden Hindu temples. "I can see three bodies of monks trapped in the debris of a collapsed building near a monastery," Indian tourist Devyani Pant told Reuters. "We are trying to pull the bodies out and look for anyone who is trapped." Neighbouring India, where 44 people were reported killed in the quake and its aftershocks, was first to respond to calls for help, sending military aircraft with medical equipment and relief teams. The Indian embassy in Nepal said 285 members of the National Disaster Response Force had been sent to assist the Nepalese army in the rescue effort. Aid groups readied staff to go to Nepal with supplies to provide clean water, sanitation and emergency food, while the United States, Britain and Pakistan were among countries providing search-and-rescue experts. TRAGEDY IN THE MOUNTAINS An Indian army mountaineering team found 18 bodies on Mount Everest, where an avalanche unleashed by the earthquake swept through base camp. More than 1,000 climbers had gathered there at the start of the climbing season. A tourism official, Mohan Krishna Sapkota, said it was "hard to even assess what the death toll and the extent of damage" around Everest could be. "The trekkers are scattered all around the base camp and some had even trekked further up. It is almost impossible to get in touch with anyone." Around 300,000 foreign tourists were estimated to be in various parts of Nepal for the spring trekking and climbing season in the Himalayas, and officials were overwhelmed by calls from concerned friends and relatives. Romanian climber Alex Gavan tweeted that there had been a "huge earthquake then huge avalanche" at Everest base camp, forcing him to run for his life. In a later tweet he made a desperate appeal for a helicopter to fly in and evacuate climbers who had been hurt: "Many dead. Much more badly injured. More to die if not heli asap." Nepal, sandwiched between India and China, has had its share of natural disasters. Its worst earthquake in 1934 killed more than 8,500 people. (Additional reporting by Andrew MacAskill, Mayank Bhardwaj, Krista Mahr and Rupam Jain Nair in New Delhi, Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow, Manoj Chaurasia in Patna, Serajul Quadir and Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Paritosh Bansal and Mark Bendeich) ============= Nepal seeks help, death toll seen rising after devastating quake KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepalese Home Ministry says quake death toll has reached 1,805. Sat, Apr 25 21:15 PM EDT image 1 of 18 By Gopal Sharma and Ross Adkin KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal urged countries to send aid to help it cope with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that killed nearly 1,400 people, a toll predicted to rise as rescuers used their hands to dig for survivors among the rubble on Sunday. Thousands of people braved freezing temperatures and patchy rain to sleep on pavements, in parks or in fields in the crowded Kathmandu valley, too afraid to return to homes damaged by a 7.9 magnitude quake which struck at midday on Saturday. "We have launched a massive rescue and rehabilitation action plan and lots needs to be done," said Information and Broadcasting Minister Minendra Rijal. "Our country is in a moment of crisis and we will require tremendous support and aid," he told Indian television. Police said the death toll had reached 1,394, with about 4,700 injured. More than 630 people had been killed in the Kathmandu valley and at least 300 more in the capital. Foreign climbers and their Nepalese guides around Mount Everest were caught by the tremors and a huge avalanche. Some took to social media to send desperate messages for assistance, warning that otherwise more people would die. Hospitals across the impoverished nation of 28 million people struggled to cope with the dead and injured from Nepal's worst quake in 81 years, and a lack of equipment meant rescuers could look no deeper than surface rubble for signs of life. Kathmandu's Bir Hospital had so far received 300 to 350 patients with serious injuries, and most of them died, said paramedic Dinesh Chaudhary. He said the hospital was running out of supplies and were procuring medicines from shops outside. "There will be many more patients coming in tomorrow because only a very small part of the debris has been cleared," he said. Ramesh Pokharel, a staff member of the Bhaktapur Hospital on the outskirts of Kathmandu, said that around 50 bodies were lying in a field outside. Doctors were treating patients in a tent next to Bhaktapur hospital's main building, and staff were too busy to count or register names of the casualties. "It's chaos here," Pokharel said. NEPAL EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER MAP http://link.reuters.com/myg64w PEOPLE STILL TRAPPED The earthquake, centered 50 miles (80 km) east of the second city, Pokhara, was all the more destructive for being shallow. Areas of Kathmandu were reduced to rubble, and rescue operations had still not begun in some remote areas. Among the capital's landmarks destroyed in the earthquake was the 60-metre-high (100-foot) Dharahara Tower, built in 1832 for the queen of Nepal, with a viewing balcony that had been open to visitors for the last 10 years. A jagged stump 10 meters high was all that was left of the lighthouse-like structure. As bodies were pulled from the ruins, a policeman said up to 200 people had been trapped inside. Across the city of roughly 1 million people, rescuers scrabbled through destroyed buildings, among them ancient, wooden Hindu temples. "I can see three bodies of monks trapped in the debris of a collapsed building near a monastery," Indian tourist Devyani Pant told Reuters. "We are trying to pull the bodies out and look for anyone who is trapped." Neighboring India, where 44 people were reported killed in the quake and its aftershocks, was first to respond to calls for help, sending military aircraft with medical equipment and relief teams. The Indian embassy in Nepal said 285 members of the National Disaster Response Force had been sent to assist the Nepalese army in the rescue effort. Aid groups readied staff to go to Nepal with supplies to provide clean water, sanitation and emergency food, while the United States, Britain and Pakistan were among countries providing search-and-rescue experts. DEADLIEST EARTHQUAKES BY YEAR http://link.reuters.com/nyg64w TRAGEDY IN THE MOUNTAINS An Indian army mountaineering team found 18 bodies on Mount Everest, where an avalanche unleashed by the earthquake swept through base camp. More than 1,000 climbers had gathered there at the start of the climbing season. A tourism official, Mohan Krishna Sapkota, said it was "hard to even assess what the death toll and the extent of damage" around Everest could be. "The trekkers are scattered all around the base camp and some had even trekked further up. It is almost impossible to get in touch with anyone." Around 300,000 foreign tourists were estimated to be in various parts of Nepal for the spring trekking and climbing season in the Himalayas, and officials were overwhelmed by calls from concerned friends and relatives. Romanian climber Alex Gavan tweeted that there had been a "huge earthquake then huge avalanche" at Everest base camp, forcing him to run for his life.

The latest message from Alex, via his sat phone, at the end of this sad day, in reply to all the media requests he has...

Posted by Alex Gavan on Saturday, April 25, 2015

In a later tweet he made a desperate appeal for a helicopter to fly in and evacuate climbers who had been hurt: "Many dead. Much more badly injured. More to die if not heli asap." In the Annapurna mountain range, where scores were killed in the nation's worst trekking accident last year, many hikers were stranded after the earthquake, according to messages on social media, but no fatalities have been reported. Stan Adhikari, who runs the Mountain House lodge in Pokhara near the mountain range, said the city had not seen much damage. He said he was hoping roads to Kathmandu would be accessible on Sunday morning. Nepal, sandwiched between India and China, has had its share of natural disasters. Its worst earthquake in 1934 killed more than 8,500 people. (Additional reporting by Andrew MacAskill, Mayank Bhardwaj, Krista Mahr, Krishna Das and Rupam Jain Nair in New Delhi, Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow, Manoj Chaurasia in Patna, Serajul Quadir and Ruma Paul in Dhaka, Suvashree Choudhury and Aman Shah in Mumbai; Writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Paritosh Bansal and Mark Bendeich) ======================================== Buildings collapse, at least four killed as 7.9 quake hits Nepal, India-witnesses Sat, Apr 25 04:55 AM EDT image 1 of 4 By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A shallow earthquake measuring 7.9 magnitude struck west of the ancient Nepali capital of Kathmandu on Saturday causing buildings to collapse, injuring many and leaving a pall of dust over the city, witnesses said. The initial unconfirmed death toll was at least four but could be expected to rise significantly as Kathmandu's decrepit buildings, crisscrossed by narrow alleys, are home to large families. A 1934 quake of magnitude 8.3 in the impoverished Himalayan nation killed over 8,500 people. At the main hospital in Kathmandu, people with broken limbs and arms were being rushed in for treatment. It was unclear how many people were injured. A girl died after a statue fell on her in a park in Kathmandu, a witness said, while another died in India when her house collapsed. An historic tower built in the 19th century in Kathmandu collapsed, trapping at least 50 people, Nepal media reported. The Dharara Tower, built in 1832, had been open to visitors for the last 10 years and had a viewing balcony on its eighth floor. One body was removed from the tower and a second lay further up the road, a Reuters witness said. A Reuters reporter in Kathmandu said he had seen some buildings collapse and walls of several houses reduced to rubble. “Everyone is out in the streets, people are rushing to the hospital,” the reporter said. The city is home to ancient, wooden Hindu temples. Photographs posted online showed buildings left in rubble, large cracks along roads and residents sitting in the street holding babies. Mountaineer Alex Gavan tweeted from Mount Pumori, about 8 km (5 miles) west of Mount Everest, that the quake had caused an avalanche on Everest. "Everest base camp huge earthquake then huge avalanche from pumori. Running for life from my tent. Unhurt. Many people up the mountain," tweeted Gavan. Tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi and other northern cities in India, with reports of tremors lasting almost one minute. "Massive tremors have been felt here in Delhi and several other parts of India," said a newsreader on NDTV in Delhi. "You can see pictures of our Delhi studios, where the windows rattled and everything shook for a very long time, for a minute perhaps or longer," she said as footage showed studio ceiling camera lights shaking. A police officer in the control room of neighbouring Indian state of Bihar said the phone lines were jammed with callers from across the heavily populated state. "We don't know about the casualties, we are flooded with calls." The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake, initially measured at 7.7 but upgraded to 7.9 magnitude, struck 80 km (50 miles) east of Pokhara. It was only 2 km deep. "We are in the process of finding more information and are working to reach out to those affected, both at home & in Nepal," tweeted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi convened a high-level meeting with ministers and top officials to assess the situation. There were no preliminary reports of damage anywhere in India, Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the Press Trust of India. Nepal emerged in 2006 from a civil war between Maoists rebels and the state that left 17,000 dead. Nepal abolished the monarchy in 2008 and the Maoists laid down their arms. (Reporting by New Delhi and Kathmandu newsrooms; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Nick Macfie)