This Article is From Apr 27, 2015

India Deploys 13 Military Aircraft, Scales Up Relief and Rescue Efforts in Earthquake-Hit Nepal

India Deploys 13 Military Aircraft, Scales Up Relief and Rescue Efforts in Earthquake-Hit Nepal

A group of Indians inside a C-17 carrier aircraft, who reached India this afternoon.

New Delhi: India has scaled up relief and rescue efforts in quake-hit Nepal, deploying 13 military aircraft and choppers and also undertaking a "big evacuation" by land. 3,200 people have died in Saturday's powerful earthquake. More than 60 people have died in India.

Here are the 10 latest developments:

  1. Rain and aftershocks that continued late on Sunday evening have hampered rescue work in Nepal. Relief flights were affected when the Kathmandu airport was closed for two hours after a particularly strong aftershock this afternoon. Air Traffic Control personnel were evacuated.

  2. Flights were later cleared to land at the Tribhuvan airport in Kathmandu, but at least one relief plane that finally took off from Delhi this evening was diverted to Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh due to severe turbulence over Kathmandu. It will make a fresh attempt to land relief material and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams in Kathmandu in the morning.

  3. "India is with Nepal in this hour of crisis... rescue operations are a priority," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday in his monthly radio-address Mann ki Baat. He said he is monitoring the rescue operation and held a review meeting in the afternoon.

  4. "I underline that rapid rescue and relief is our primary mission in Nepal. The situation in Nepal is very, very serious," said Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said at a news conference on Sunday evening detailing India's efforts. Apart from 13 aircraft, India will also press into service 35 buses to bring people back by road, Mr Jaishankar said. So far, at least 1,900 Indians have been brought back from Nepal by defence and civilian aircraft.

  5. There is no electricity in Kathmandu, communication lines are down and water is in scarce supply. People were seen huddled under plastic sheets outside, too afraid to go back indoors.

  6. At the base camp of Mount Everest, 19 people died after Saturday's earthquake triggered an avalanche.

  7. A powerful aftershock measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale hit Nepal on Sunday afternoon. Another, of 5.4 magnitude, was reported a little before 10 pm. They have caused panic among people.

  8. The tremors were felt in India too, particularly in Bihar which borders Nepal. 51 people have died in Bihar in Saturday's quake, 14 in Uttar Pradesh and four in Bengal. Metro rail services in Delhi and Kolkata were suspended for a while after the big aftershock on Sunday afternoon.

  9. An under-14 girls' football team from India, which was stranded in Kathmandu, has also been evacuated. The girls have reached Delhi.

  10. Ten tonnes of blankets, 50 tonnes of water, 22 tonnes of food items and two tonnes of medicines have already been dispatched to worst-hit Kathmandu, where over 700 people have died in the quake. Three army field hospitals and engineering task force and medical units of civilian doctors have been sent to Nepal.



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