Nepal Earthquake: Death Toll Exceeds 3,000

According to the Nepalese authorities, at least 3,218 people are now known to have died in a massive earthquake which hit the country on April 25.

Rameshwor Dangal, head of Nepal’s disaster management agency, said another 6,500 people had been injured.

Dozens of people are also reported to have been killed in neighboring China and India.

Thousands have spent a second night outside after the 7.8-magnitude quake, which also triggered deadly avalanches on Mount Everest.

Vast tent cities have sprung up in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, for those displaced or afraid to return to their homes as strong aftershocks continue.

Rescue missions and aid have started arriving to help cope with the aftermath of the earthquake, the worst to hit Nepal for more than 80 years.

The weather cleared on April 27 and helicopters are heading out to the Mount Everest base camp to try to bring down 210 stranded climbers.

The roads to the earthquake’s epicenter, northwest of the capital, have also been cleared and rescue teams are on their way.

Efforts to dig victims out from under the rubble of collapsed buildings in Kathmandu are also continuing.

Home ministry official Laxmi Prasad Dhakal told Reuters rescuers were “in a really bad shape” after working non-stop for two days.

Meanwhile, officials have warned that the number of casualties could rise as rescue teams reach remote mountainous areas of western Nepal.

Initial reports suggest that many communities – especially those close to mountainsides – suffered significant quake damage.

“Villages like this are routinely affected by landslides, and it’s not uncommon for entire villages of 200, 300, up to 1,000 people to be completely buried by rock falls,” World Vision spokesman Matt Darvas said.

In Dhading district, 50 miles west of Kathmandu, people were camped in the open, the hospital was overflowing, the power was off and shops were closed, Reuters news agency reported.

A powerful aftershock was felt on April 26 in Nepal, India and Bangladesh, and more avalanches were reported near Everest.

The 6.7-magnitude tremor, centered 40 miles east of Kathmandu, sent people running in panic for open ground in the city.

It brought down some houses that had been damaged in the initial quake.

At hospitals rattled by the aftershocks, staff moved sick and injured patients outside on Sunday afternoon.

Both private and government hospitals have run out of space and are treating patients outside, officials say.

Deepak Panda, a disaster management official, said medical services were “overwhelmed with rescue and assistance requests from all across the country”, Reuters reports.

Foreign climbers and their Nepalese guides around Mt Everest were caught by the tremors and a huge avalanche that buried part of the base camp in snow.

At least 18 people were killed and 60 more injured; many people are still missing.

At least four out of seven UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Kathmandu valley – three of them ancient city squares – were severely damaged.

In Bhaktapur, until now Nepal’s best preserved old city, reports say half of all homes have been destroyed and 80% of temples damaged.