Concerns over aid as fears death toll in Nepal may exceed 10,000

Nepal’s Armed Police Force rescued a teenager from the wreckage of the Hilton Hotel guesthouse yesterday, a hopeful message for the Asian country where hopes of finding more survivors start to fade.

Onlookers cheered as Pema Lama was dragged from the rubble, and in the countryside there were signs much-delayed aid was reaching those who needed it most since the earthquake last week.

Government adviser Dr Bijan Pant said he believed the forecast death toll was sure to rise above 5,000 as the rescue mission was still at an early stage. The disaster has affected eight million families and destroyed or damaged some 600,000 houses, according to the United Nations.

An official from Nepal’s home ministry said the number of confirmed deaths from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake had risen to 5,858 by yesterday afternoon, and almost 13,800 were injured.

If, as feared, the death toll exceeds 10,000, that would surpass the 8,500 who died in a 1934 earthquake, the last disaster on this scale to hit the nation of 28 million people situated between India and China.

Aid

Anger is growing over a sense aid is not being distributed properly. “Aid is coming but it is not being distributed quickly enough,” said one local man near an aid distribution centre in the western city of Gorkha. “We need tents, water and dried foods are a must.”

Sadyadavi Pariyar’s house was completely destroyed and now she, her son and her three daughters have nowhere to live. Ms Pariyar is of a lower caste. “The people who are lower down are getting less, the help is trickling down from the higher castes. We lower-caste people cannot raise our voices. If you can raise your voice, if you have education and power, then you can get aid,” she said.

Harish Chandra Khanal (34) was worried the schools would not be able to cope. “The private schools are still standing – they were better built – but many public schools have been destroyed. I’ve no idea where the children will go. By May 5th the schools are due to open,” said Mr Khanal. His nine-year-old daughter attends a private school, he said, but it is only slightly damaged.

Sporadic rain is hampering relief efforts in some regions, although the weather yesterday was very warm and sunny.

In Langtang valley, where 150 people are feared trapped, a helicopter pilot was taken hostage by locals demanding to be evacuated first, one report said. “There could be trouble here. Poor people believe they are not being given enough food and water, while government offices teem with boxes of biscuits, juices and sacks of rice and wheat,” said one businessman in Gorkha. “There could be a big clash.”

Supplies

The police blocked off access to areas where aid is being stored and said they were counting the relief supplies.

In the capital Kathmandu, a 28-year-old man pulled from a collapsed apartment block on Tuesday after spending about 80 hours trapped with three dead bodies said his rescue was a mixed blessing.

“I don’t even have the money to buy a wheelchair now,” Rishi Khanal told Reuters yesterday, a day after he had one of his legs amputated. “How will I spend the rest of my life and support my family?”– (Additional reporting: Reuters)