Aid being taken to an earthquake affected area in Kathmandu. (Agence France-Presse)
Four days after a devastating earthquake struck Nepal, the country's Prime Minister Sushil Koirala has said that the number of dead could be 10,000. Over 5,000 are confirmed dead and thousands are injured. Authorities are still trying to determine the extent of the disaster in the Gorkha region and neighbouring Lamjung where the epicentre lay.
India has helped evacuate from Nepal 170 nationals from 15 countries, the government on Tuesday said. "Friends in need," the foreign ministry tweeted this evening, giving details of the number of foreign nationals evacuated on commercial and IAF aircraft.
Most of these nationals - 71 - are from Spain, which had on Monday asked India for help to evacuate its citizens. There are many also from Poland, Czech Republic, US, UK, Germany and France.
The UN has said that eight million people have been affected by the quake and 1.4 million are in need of food.
As survivors struggled to cope with scarcity of food and essential commodities, mass funerals were held today in capital Kathmandu and other areas.
Prime Minister Koirala has appealed for foreign supplies for tents and medicines. In remote rural areas, many villages and communities are without water and electricity.
The US, the UK and Canada have now joined Asian countries in offering help. International aid has finally begun arriving in the Himalayan nation of 28 million people.
The disbursement of relief has been slow. At the Kathmandu airport, relief material and rescue teams are flying in while thousands of residents are trying to leave.
Relief work was suspended for hours due to heavy rain in Kathmandu and parts of Nepal.
The Indian army is helping and treating the injured in makeshift tents. India has sent doctors, medical aid and other relief supplies in 13 military aircraft. Indian Air Force choppers have been carrying relief material to remote and inaccessible areas of Nepal and ferrying back this injured for treatment.
Experts say that the earthquake may have shifted the ground beneath the capital Kathmandu about three metres (10 feet) southward.
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