Relief starts reaching remote villages in Nepal
Relief begins to trickle into the more remote areas of Nepal that were hit by the devastating earthquake last Saturday
Rescuers scrambled into the night in an attempt to save thousands of people who remain buried under rubble.
According to international reports, help has begun to reach the remote regions of Nepal affected by Saturday's earthquake. However, many people remain in desperate need of food and water. Aid efforts have continued in the Kathmandu Valley, and the UN says that it is now spreading to include areas including Dhading and Gorkha.
The 7.8 earthquake that hit central Nepal has claimed more than 5,000 lives so far and it has left thousands of others injured. Still more people are reportedly queuing to board buses and leave the capital, amid fears of further aftershocks.
The government is providing free transport for Kathmandu residents hoping to travel to their hometowns and school buses have been sent to supplement overstretched services.
The AFP reports that police have been deployed at the main bus station, as thousands are becoming increasingly desperate to leave.
Nepal is one of Asia’s poorest countries and the aftershocks, landslides, severe damage from the earthquake and creaking infrastructure have complicated rescue efforts with more than eight million people in 39 districts having been affected by the quake and over 10,000 people being injured according to the UN.
Ground sources confirm that food, water and power are in short supply and officials have acknowledged that they have been overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster and that delivering relief to far-flung villages has been challenging.
"The terrain is such that very remote areas take a very long time to reach and without being there physically we won't be able to reach them, help them, rescue them," said army spokesman Jagdish Chandra Pokherel.
There are also accounts of hungry, desperate villagers in one of the hardest hit districts of Gorkha rushing towards relief helicopters begging to be airlifted.
"We haven't had any food here since the earthquake," Sita Gurung, whose home in Gorkha was destroyed, told AFP news agency. "Everything has changed, we don't have anything left here."
