Hundreds killed as massive quake rips through Nepal

KATHMANDU, Saturday

A massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed 876 people Saturday as it ripped through large parts of Nepal, toppling office blocks and towers in Kathmandu and triggering a deadly avalanche that hit Everest base camp.

Officials said more than two dozen people were also reported killed in neighbouring India, China and Bangladesh.

“The toll from the earthquake has jumped to 876, including 524 from the Kathmandu valley,” police spokesman Kamal Singh Bam told AFP.

“Rescue efforts are still underway. We fear the toll might rise as we dig through the rubble.”

Emergency workers fanned out across the Himalayan nation to rescue those feared trapped under collapsed homes, buildings and other debris.

“Deaths have been reported from all regions except the far west. All our security personnel have been deployed to rescue and assist those in need,” Bam told AFP.

Officials said 10 people were killed when an avalanche buried parts of Mount Everest’s base camp in Nepal where hundreds of mountaineers have gathered at the start of the annual climbing season.

“We don’t have the details yet, but 10 have been reported dead so far, including foreign climbers,” Gyanendra Kumar Shrestha, an official in Nepal’s tourism department, told AFP.

AFP Nepal bureau chief Ammu Kannampilly, on an assignment to Everest, was among those caught up in the chaos and reported that snowfall meant it was impossible for helicopters to reach the area.

But the worst damage was reported in Kathmandu, where the historic nine-storey Dharahara tower, a major tourist attraction, was among the buildings to have been brought down.

A DOZEN BODIES

At least a dozen bodies were taken away from the ruins of the 19th-century tower, according to an AFP photographer who saw similar scenes of multiple casualties in other parts of the city.

“It was difficult to breath, but I slowly moved the debris. Someone then pulled me out. I don’t know where my friends are,” Dharmu Subedi, 36, who was standing outside the tower when it collapsed, said from a hospital bed.

The United States Geological Survey and India’s meteorological service said the shallow quake struck 77 kilometres northwest of Kathmandu at 0611 GMT, with walls crumbling and families racing outside their homes.

“The walls of houses have collapsed around me onto the road. All the families are outside in their yards huddled together,” an AFP reporter said in Kathmandu.

PANIC AND MAYHEM

Another resident, Anupa Shrestha, recounted scenes of panic and mayhem, saying “everything started shaking, everything fell down.”

The quake tore through the middle of highways in the capital and also caused damage to the country’s only international airport which was briefly closed.

Kari Cuelenaere, an official at the Dutch embassy, said the impact had swept the water out of a swimming pool at a Kathmandu hotel where Dutch national day was being celebrated.

“It was horrible, all of a sudden all the water came up out of the pool and drenched everyone, the children started screaming,” Cuelenaere told AFP.

“Some parts of the city fell down, there was dust rising... There were many (rescue) helicopters.”

Aftershock tremors could still be felt more than two hours after the initial earthquake.