At least 2,000 people have died as Nepal suffered its worst earthquake for more than 80 years. Relief efforts in Nepal are intensifying as Rescue missions and aid material have started arriving in the country.
The 6.7-magnitude tremor, centred 60km (40 miles) east of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, sent people running in panic for open ground in the city.
As military helicopters hovered over Kathmandu and ferried relief supplies to victims of the earthquake in western Nepal, search and rescue efforts were going on in at least five locations in Kathmandu.
Powerful aftershocks continued to convulse Nepal on Sunday, sending residents of Katmandu screaming into the streets again and again a day after a devastating quake killed more than 2,200 people and injured about 5,800.
Streets in parts of this city of about 1.2 million were impassable not so much from quake damage but because tens of thousands of people have taken up residence there. It was a strategy endorsed by a government entirely overwhelmed by the enormity of the challenge facing the country.
As the country’s prime minister, Sushil Koirala, rushed back to Katmandu from an official trip to Southeast Asia it became clear that the Nepalese authorities were ill-equipped to rescue those trapped and would have trouble maintaining adequate supplies of water, electricity and food.
World leaders and global charities have offered emergency aid to Nepal, as the government grapples with the scale of the disaster.
India is at the forefront of the relief effort, offering help including helicopters which have been deployed to remote areas.
Offers of aid:
* US: Disaster response team and an initial $1m (£0.7m), according to aid agency USAid
* China: Rescue team reported to have arrived in Nepal
* India: Several aircraft, carrying medical supplies and a mobile hospital, and a 40-strong disaster response team, including rescuers with dogs
* UK: Eight-strong humanitarian team
* Pakistan: Four C-130 aircraft carrying a 30-bed field hospital, and army doctors and specialists; urban search-and-rescue teams equipped with radars and sniffer dogs; food items, including 2,000 meals, 200 tents and 600 blankets
* Norway: $3.9m (£2.5m) in humanitarian assistance
* Pledges from Germany, Spain, France, Israel and the EU.
