Entire villages wiped out in quake tragedy

Meanwhile the agonising wait for news of loved ones goes on for the families of British and Irish people still missing in the Himalayan country after Saturday’s devastating earthquake.

The death toll in the worst earthquake to hit the country for more than 80 years has risen to more than 4,300 and thousands more are injured and homeless.

According to the most up-to-date figures from the UN, eight million people in 39 districts have been affected.

British and Irish medical staff, experts and volunteers have been dispatched to the worst-affected areas, with the RAF, firefighters from the UK International Search and Rescue Team, Gurkha engineers and medics from the Doctors Of The World charity among those involved.

Saleh Saeed, chief executive of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), said a quake of this kind had been forecast to happen in the area for many years.

He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme entire villages had been wiped out and, close to the earthquake’s epicentre, whole villages had been completely destroyed.

“Now we are seeing tens of thousands of homeless people sleeping in makeshift camps,” he said. “Those who are lucky have got tents, others are now having to sleep in the open air, in the cold, in the wet.”

Mr Saeed said that always after such disasters there was some degree of “chaos and confusion” but he stressed aid was “getting in” by road and plane, adding that over the next few days people would see an intense increased activity to make sure all those who need help are being reached.

He said he expected the death toll to rise, adding: “What we really need to do is focus on those who are still living and need the help - that’s tens of thousands of people who have been made homeless, 7,000 people who have been injured.”

Eighteen people died on Mount Everest after an avalanche swept through its Base Camp, and more climbers are stranded higher up the mountain.

The Foreign Office said it had not received reports of any Britons being killed or injured but embassy staff have assisted 200 people.

The DEC will make a televised appeal for public donations today, launched across all the major broadcasters and fronted by Absolutely Fabulous star and Gurkha campaigner Joanna Lumley. The appeal is due to be broadcast on BBC One at 5:55pm and 10:50pm, BBC Two at 8pm and ITV at 6:51pm.

The UK has already pledged a £5 million package of support, including £3 million released under the Rapid Response Facility (RRF) to address immediate needs on the ground and £2 million to the British Red Cross.

Towns and villages across Nepal have been flattened, and communications problems in the worst-affected areas have left families and friends around the world anxiously awaiting news of loved ones.

Susannah Ross, 20, from Bath, is among a group of trekkers left stranded in the Langtang valley in the north of the country.

Her family received word via a woman in South Africa whose son is with her that she is safe, but they have no idea whether she is injured or not.

Her sister, Nina Ross, said: “The woman said they were running out of food and water and some of them were injured and they needed SOS rescue by helicopter as some were trapped.

“We were so overwhelmed that she was alive, but now it is a frantic race that she gets the help that she needs.

“We don’t know if she was one who is injured. It is cold there at night and they have no food or water. We don’t want her to come back in a worse state than she is in now.”

Aid workers on the ground have reported “huge logistical difficulties” as road closures and communication problems have thwarted some efforts.

Leigh Daynes, UK director of medical charity Doctors Of The World, said Nepal’s health system was already vulnerable even before the earthquake, especially in rural areas.

“Now hospitals are utterly incapacitated, infrastructure has been decimated and thousands of people are sleeping on the streets. With monsoon season only weeks away, this is a catastrophe of the highest order and demands an urgent medical response,” he said.

“We are facing huge logistical difficulties. As well as roads being closed, aftershocks have prevented planes from landing at Kathmandu airport.”

The 7.8-magnitude quake struck just before midday on Saturday, sending tremors through the Kathmandu Valley and the nearby city of Pokhara.

Mike Adamson, chief executive of the British Red Cross, said while many newer buildings in the Kathmandu valley had survived, older ones had not been able to withstand the force of the shock.

“As the death toll continues to rise, it is our absolute priority to continue the search and rescue operations and get aid to those left stranded,” he said.

Tales of escape have emerged from survivors, of the earthquake, despite the difficulties with communication.

Climber Alex Staniforth, 19, from Chester, said he was “emotionally trashed” and “very lucky to be alive” after being evacuated to base camp.

Disaster experts believe the earthquake will leave Nepal dependent on aid from countries such as the UK for years, and that recovery from the devastation could take a decade.

Baroness Amos, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said there was a “huge outpouring” of support, with 26 countries sending in relief supplies, plus search and rescue teams.

She told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “It’s absolutely terrible, and of course our hearts go out to those families affected. Getting relief supplies in, making sure that people can actually survive this on a day-to-day basis, making sure that they have water, food, getting to those outlying areas.”

She added: “But the scale of this is so huge, the government has tried to get helicopters landed in those outlying areas and have not been able to. Of course some of the roads are closed. It’s always a bit chaotic at the beginning.

“But we are there, we’re supporting the Nepalese government, they have utilised their army, they are throwing everything at this, but it is incredibly difficult terrain.”

The airport, she said was very, very congested with so many relief supplies and humanitarian workers coming in, plus a lot of Nepalese people wanting to leave.

She said: “Lots of people arriving now, lots of supplies arriving now, countries are really doing their best, giving a huge amount of support, but you can see from the devastation that people will need a huge amount of support to rebuild their lives and the Nepalese government itself will need support.

“Infrastructure - absolutely essential infrastructure - has been destroyed, power is very intermittent right now, communication has been destroyed, all of this will need to be rebuilt.”

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