Total devastation in remote areas

Doval, Jaishankar call on PM Sushil Koirala to discuss relief operations

Kathmandu: Nepal's remote mountainous areas have suffered "almost total devastation" from a powerful quake that claimed over 6,300 lives, aid agencies warned on Friday even as relief slowly began to reach far-flung regions amid fresh aftershocks that kept people on edge.

Top Indian officials on Friday took stock of the situation in the battered country as they assured Nepal of all possible assistance.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar called on Prime Minister Sushil Koirala soon after their arrival here to discuss the rescue and relief operations in the areas affected by the earthquake.

Tremors jolted Nepal for the sixth day as rescuers struggled with disposing off dead bodies and sifting through mounds of rubble for rare survivors after hopes of finding them were rekindled following the miraculous rescue of a teenage boy and a young woman on Thursday.

International humanitarian bodies called for greater urgency in relief efforts as the death toll from Saturday's devastating temblor topped 6,300 while the number of injured reached around 14,000.

"One of our teams that returned from Chautara in Sindupalchowk district reported that 90 per cent of the homes are destroyed. The hospital has collapsed, and people are digging through the rubble with their hands in the hope that they might find family members who are still alive," said Jagan Chapagain, Director of Asia Pacific with the IFRC.

"We can expect the situation to be the same if not worse in many other places where aid has not yet been delivered," Chapagain said.

There are estimates that up to 40,000 homes in Sindupalchowk alone have been destroyed, the IFRC said in a statement. The amount of emergency aid needed for such a large-scale disaster outstrips the capacity of Kathmandu's small and the country's only international airport, which is receiving an extremely high volume of aid flights now coming into Nepal, it said.

Meanwhile, relief was slowly beginning to reach remote mountainous towns and villages after efforts were earlier hampered due to heavy rains and aftershocks.

According to the Home Ministry, 20 helicopters carrying relief have landed in the districts of Sindhupalchok, Dolakha, Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading and Gorkha - some of the worst-hit areas.

An aftershock measuring 4 on the Richter scale jolted the country on Friday morning and was centred around Kathmandu. Few hours later, another tremor measuring 4.2 on the Richter Scale was recorded in Dolakha district, some 300 km south-east of Kathmandu.

Doval, who also took an aerial survey of the Gorkha district, said: "India stands steadfastly with Nepal, (and it) will give all the help possible to them."

"We have taken an account of how the Nepalese government and the Nepalese Army are working and how the NDRF is assisting them with total dedication and a total sense of commitment and they have done very good work," he said.

Anger and frustration have mounted in the country that has witnessed scenes of people clashing with police and seizing food and water supplies and have blamed the administration of slow relief work. According to the Home Ministry, over 250,000 buildings have been damaged in the quake - partially or completely.

The United Nations has said that around 8 million people have been affected in the country.