Struggle to find thousands missing a week after earthquake in Nepal
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NEPALI and foreign officials were yesterday struggling to locate thousands of people still missing after last week’s massive earthquake, as food and other relief supplies began to trickle through to those stranded in remote parts of the country.
Up to 1,000 Europeans are among the missing, mostly around popular trekking routes, the head of the European Union delegation in Nepal said.
“We don’t know where they are, or where they could be,” Ambassador Rensje Teerink told reporters. Officials said it was hard to trace the missing because many backpackers do not register with their embassies in the country.
However, Nepal’s home ministry said it had not been informed the number of EU citizens missing could be that high.
“If that is the case then why are the embassies not informing us? Why have they not contacted the Nepal government?” home ministry spokesman Laxmi Prasad Dhakal told reporters.
The number of people missing from France, Italy and Spain is 221 according to checks made with their governments, while other European nations have yet to provide an updated figure on how many of their citizens are unaccounted for.
The confirmed death toll from last Saturday’s disaster has risen to 6,250, with 14,357 injured according to the government. There is no number for the missing, but bodies are still being pulled from the debris of ruined buildings, while rescue workers have not been able to reach some remote areas.
In the capital Kathmandu, many unclaimed bodies were being quickly cremated because of pressure on mortuaries. Besides the possibility of disease, the stench of the corpses was spreading through localities where buildings had collapsed.
Many bodies could be migrant workers from India, who would be living alone in the Himalayan nation, local officials said.
“Morgues are full beyond capacity and we have been given instructions to incinerate bodies immediately after they are pulled out,” said Raman Lal, an Indian paramilitary force official working in coordination with Nepali forces.
Aid was beginning to reach remote towns and villages nestled in the mountains and foothills of the nation. But officials said efforts to step up the pace of delivery were frustrated by a shortage of supply trucks and drivers, many of whom had returned to their villages.
“Our granaries are full and we have ample food stock, but we are not being able to transport supplies at a faster pace,” said Shrimani Raj Khanal, a manager at the Nepal Food Corp.
Army helicopters have air-dropped instant noodles and biscuits to remote communities but people need rice and other ingredients to cook a proper meal, he said.
Many Nepalis have been sleeping in the open since the quake, with survivors afraid of returning to their homes because of a series of powerful aftershocks. According to the United Nations, 600,000 houses have been destroyed or damaged.
Information Minister Minendra Rijal said the government would provide US$1,000 in immediate assistance to the families of those killed, as well as US$400 for cremation or burial.
The UN said 8 million people in the country of 28 million were affected, with at least 2 million needing tents, water, food and medicines over the next three months.
Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat said Nepal would need at least US$2 billion to rebuild homes, hospitals, government offices and historic buildings and appealed for help from international donors.
“This is just an initial estimate and it will take time to assess the extent of damage and calculate the cost of rebuilding,” Mahat said.
Anger over the pace of the rescue has flared in some areas, with Nepalis accusing the government of being too slow to distribute the flood of international aid.
“There have been cases where villages have pelted stones on trucks carrying aid and food supplies. They must have been really hungry and angry to do so,” said Purna Shanker, who works at the government’s commodity trading office.
In Sundarkhula, a village close to the quake’s epicenter west of Kathmandu, villagers said they were searching their destroyed homes for food.
In the Himalayas, climbing is set to reopen on Mount Everest, although many have abandoned their ascents.
An avalanche killed 18 climbers and sherpa mountain guides at base camp.
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