Unfortunately, 7,000 people have been confirmed dead as a result of the devastating earthquake that hit the South Asian country of Nepal last week, police officials say.
On Saturday, Nepalese police sources said in the latest update that a total of 6,841 people in Nepal are now known to have lost their lives in the 7.8-magnitude quake, which hit the country on April 25.
More than 14,000 people have been also injured in the natural disaster, they added.
The deputy inspector general of Kathmandu police, Kamal Singhbam, had earlier in the day put the death toll across Nepal at 6,624.
The death toll rose after rescue workers pulled out more bodies from under rubble in the capital, Kathmandu, and some remote regions.
Nepalese authorities have ruled out the possibility of finding more survivors buried in the rubble from the massive earthquake.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala had recently warned that the death toll could soar to as many as 10,000 as rescue teams reach far-flung villages and towns.
Reports say more than 100 others were killed in neighboring India and China, as the earthquake also caused damage in those countries.
Rescue work
Meanwhile, hundreds of volunteers, including doctors, engineers and businessmen, have mobilized teams across various neighborhoods of Kathmandu to help those who have been left homeless by the devastating quake.
“We are gathering whatever we can. Our priority is providing medicines and clean drinking water and warn people about the possibility of spread of disease,” said Srijana Jyoti, a businesswoman, adding, “Water is the essential and we are trying to get them access to clean drinking water.”
UNICEF is also raising alarm about the effect of the earthquake on the children’s nutrition. It says that at least 15,000 children with severe acute malnutrition require therapeutic feeding.
Survivors have also expressed outrage against the slow pace of relief efforts by the government.
“Nobody has come here to help us. No government, no police, no aid,” said 71-year-old Badri Giri in a far-flung village of Sindhupalchok district, adding, “We have no homes, no place to live anymore. We are sleeping outside.”
“We have received things like tuna fish and mayonnaise. What good are those things for us? We need grains, salt and sugar,” Mahat said during a recent press briefing.
Information Minister Minendra Rijal has also said the Nepalese government would immediately need 400,000 tents. Sources say the government so far has only been able to provide 29,000 to the people who need them.
The United Nations estimates that some 8 million people have been affected by the disaster, more than 1.4 million people are in urgent need of food supplies and tens of thousands have been left homeless. The world body has appealed for $415 million for Nepal to reconstruct the devastated Himalayan nation.