Rolling coverage of developments in Himalayan nation after 7.8 magnitude quake near Kathmandu
Fears for missing foreigners
Nepal quake kills more than 2,000
Deadly Everest avalanche triggered by earthquake
The aftermath – in pictures
Ancient Dharhara tower collapses
12.17am AEST
Reader Thirdness, whose daughter is in Lhasa, has asked if there is any information from Tibet.
This report from DNAIndia gives a few details, but not much.
Death toll in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region has risen to 17 in the wake of the devastating earthquake that hit neighbouring Nepal on Saturday, while the Communist giant on Sunday dispatched a 62-member search and rescue team to help the Himalayan nation.
Nearly 1,500 people, including two Indians, have died in Nepal and hundreds are feared missing, after a 7.9-magnitude earthquake tore through that country flattening houses and buildings including the iconic Dharhara tower and landmark Darbar Square in the heart of its capital. The death toll in Tibet has climbed to 17 after the powerful earthquake struck neighbouring Nepal, local authorities said today.
12.08am AEST
This from reader Shashank Suman BTL about the Indian government’s efforts to help the rescue operation:
As part of the nation’s overall relief effort for Nepal, the Indian Army has launched Operation Maitri.
A Multi National Coordination Centre has been set up. In addition, in PPO Pokhra, Head quarters are being established for relief operations.
11.54pm AEST
New footage from Kathmandu shows the aftermath of Saturday’s magnitude 7.9 earthquake with houses toppled and multi-storey apartments reduced to rubble.
11.39pm AEST
Debt-relief campaigners Jubilee USA Network have sent an interesting press release, pointing out that Nepal could qualify for assistance from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) new Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCR).
“Nepal could qualify for immediate relief,” said Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network. “Nepal’s earthquake is why the International Monetary Fund created a new rapid response relief fund.”
The IMF created the CCR in February to provide debt relief to poor countries impacted by natural disasters or health crises. The new fund canceled nearly $100 million in debt for Ebola-impacted countries. In order to qualify for relief from the new fund after a natural disaster, a country must meet certain criteria. The disaster must destroy more than 25% of the country’s “productive capacity,” impact one third of its people or cause damage greater than the size of the country’s economy. It is not yet known if Nepal will qualify. Nepal owes the IMF $54 million, with $10 million due in 2015 and nearly $13 million due in 2016.
11.35pm AEST
We have an updated story from our correspondents on the ground in Nepal.
A strong aftershock has caused panic and frustrated frantic efforts to reach possible survivors of Saturday’s earthquake in Nepal, as the death toll rose to 2,152 and the government declared a state of emergency.
Officials in the Himalayan country said they expected the number of dead and injured to rise again, while emergency supplies began to trickle in to affected areas after several countries pledged millions of dollars in desperately needed aid and sent in search and rescue teams.
11.04pm AEST
Gregory Katz and Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press have done a useful summary of key information about the earthquake in Nepal.
Casualties and Damage
Indications suggest the death toll across four countries is likely to rise substantially in the coming days. The magnitude-7.8 quake was the worst to hit Nepal in eight decades and caused damage and fatalities in neighboring countries. In addition to more than 2,100 people killed in Nepal, a total of at least 61 died in India, Bangladesh, China’s region of Tibet and Pakistan.
10.44pm AEST
My colleague Pete Pattison has sent in this report:
The Guardian spoke to Rupak Aryal as he was discharged from Bir Hospital, splattered in dried blood and with a large bandage over his eye:
“When the earthquake struck, I was building shook and I was so afraid... It was shaking vertically and horizontally... I couldn’t think properly and I just jumped out of the window. It was maybe 20 feet high.
10.32pm AEST
My colleague Ishwar Rauniyar has sent these pictures showing the destruction at Durbar Square Bhaktapur, the in eastern corner of the Kathmandu Valley.
10.16pm AEST
Reuters has this useful factbox on the number of foreigners in Nepal, which it put at a total of 300,000 at a busy time of year for the tourism-reliant country’s trekking and climbing season.
Austria: Foreign ministry says around 250 Austrians in Nepal, no reports so far on any casualties.
10.16pm AEST
Update - Reuters: Home ministry official says 618 people have died after an earthquake measuring magnitude 7.9 struck #Nepal
Nepal’s Home Ministry has given an update on those injured and killed. The death toll has reached 2263 and 5580 people have been injured.
10.02pm AEST
Pete Pattisson, based in in Kathmandu, has just sent this.
Kathmandu, for the most part, is still standing, defying predictions of catastrophic destruction in the event of a major earthquake.
On a half an hour journey from the far south to the far north of the city, I only saw a handful of destroyed or damaged buildings, including an ancient temple and Durbar high school, the first school to be built in Nepal. The roads are busy and plenty of shops are open.
9.58pm AEST
9.34pm AEST
AP reports that a first group has been taken to hospitals after at least 17 were killed in an avalanche yesterday. Those who arrived in the capital appeared not to have life-threatening injuries. Here are of the eyewitness accounts.
Pemba Sherpa, a 43-year-old guide with the right side of his face bandaged, was surprised he had survived.
He rushed from his tent when the earthquake hit and was standing in the open when “I heard a big noise, and the next thing I know I was swept away by the snow,” he said. “I must have been swept almost 200 metres.”
9.21pm AEST
Some of the latest images showing the aftermath of the earthquake.
9.12pm AEST
AFP reports on how Nepalese doctors working in a hospital car park have been overwhelmed by the number of patients. Here is an extract.
Doctors set up makeshift operating theatres in a hospital car park as they worked round the clock to treat the wounded from a monster quake that has also left morgues overflowing with bodies.
Samir Acharya, a doctor at Annapurna Neurological Hospital, described how medics were working out of a tent set up in a parking lot after being overwhelmed by patients.
9.01pm AEST
An official in Nepal says at least 2,152 people are now confirmed dead in the massive earthquake that hit just outside of Kathmandu, AP reports
8.39pm AEST
Astonishing video which shows amateur video shows large cracks down the middle of a road in Nepal after a devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit the region on Saturday.
8.16pm AEST
The British Embassy in Nepal has issued further updates and travel advice.
For further updates on #Nepal earthquake & travel advice:: http://t.co/d8RppW2Cuv #Nepal
An earthquake has occurred at 11.45 local time in Nepal. Epicentre was 81kms west of Kathmandu. Aftershocks are continuing. There has been extensive damage to buildings. We advise people to stay in a place of safety and follow any advice provided by local authorities.
If you are a British national currently in Nepal and wish to inform the FCO of your whereabouts you should contact us by: - completing a form online at https://overseas-crisis.service.gov.uk/ - calling us on +44 207 008 0000; and - texting NEPAL to +447860010026. You’ll then receive a reply, please respond with your details. Text messages should be restricted to 160 characters. Reliability and cost of sending a text varies from country to country and is dependent on the networks within those countries.
8.13pm AEST
The BBC weather forecast for Nepal does not look good. Thundery downpours could hamper rescue efforts for the rest of next week.
#NEPAL #EARTHQUAKE Thundery downpours could hamper rescue efforts across the region for much of the new week. Stav D pic.twitter.com/5N8AgKKejY
7.55pm AEST
CARE International have been in touch to give details of their emergency operation on the ground in Nepal.
Emergency response coordinator in Kathmandu, Santosh Sharma, said earthquake survivors have spent the night gripped with fear due to severe aftershocks:
Almost everyone has slept outside and they are creating temporary shelters with what they have. I am seeing women and children suffering a lot…they are living outside their homes and fear going inside,” Mr Sharma said.
There is no electricity, and soon there will be a scarcity of water. People have been pooling their resources together, but there will soon be problems with food and with water.”
7.45pm AEST
More testimony from aid agencies. This from Unicef communication officer Rupa Joshi in Nepal:
The shake was like nothing I have experienced in my 57 years. It was strong and it shook for a long time. Many old monuments, including famous temples and stupas have come down. Many people fear Kathmandu will have very a high death rate. Fortunately, today is Saturday so schools were off and the quake came in the daytime.
When I went out in the evening, I saw many people preparing to camp out in the main open parade ground in the middle of the street. Relatives were crying in the main government hospital where the dead were being lined up in front of the hospital building.
7.34pm AEST
Good resource on the Everest aspect of the earthquake inc up to date news from the British Mountaineering Council https://t.co/h23YAACxJS
My colleague Peter Beaumont has more on the cause of the avalanche on Everest. This from him:
The source of the deadly avalanche on Everest appears to have been the collapse of a serac - or ice cliff - in the region of the peaks opposite Everest base camp – Pumori and Lintgren the latter of which has a line of prominent seracs along a prominent saddle.
Seracs are a glacial feature, slow moving, unstable and prone to collapse - in this case triggered by the earthquake.
11:45 lying in my tent, it seems like someone is shaking my tent … I think it’s a joke. Not much time later, the shaking of the tent turns into shaking of the ground and it gets harder and harder. I realize — earthquake !! When I open my tent zipper, I see three sides of the gigantic avalanche come down (from different peaks). Behind me, from Lingtren and from Pumori.
The avalanche from the Nuptse is gigantic. Not much later I realize that the base camp is getting hit. Arnold [fellow climber] beckons me to come to the mess tent. I run the 20 meters to the tent, midway through the avalanche skims me. I totally lost my sense of direction… Then I storm into the tent.
7.12pm AEST
My colleague Anna Codrea Rado has pointed out a significant and useful move from Viber, the smart phone and desktop programme that allows messages and calls to be made over the internet:
In response to the earthquake in Nepal we have switched off Viber Out billing so Nepal users can call any destination for free
@Viber We hope this will prove helpful to anyone trying to reach friends and family in this region.
6.58pm AEST
We are receiving more eye-witness reports from aid workers on the ground in Nepal.
Caritas #Nepal staff distributing tarpaulins. Please keep all those affected in your prayers: http://t.co/YtSZR7QgTo pic.twitter.com/gWnuy17Chh
There have been continued tremors overnight. A lot of people have been sleeping outside, and a lot have evacuated to open spaces in town, because they’re worried about continued tremors. We’ve just experienced another one, a large one. The mood here is sombre. Everyone is doing their best just to get through.
A lot of buildings have collapsed, especially in the town centre. Caritas Nepal has delivered immediate relief, providing tents to people who have evacuated, including those who have taken refuge in churches which are being used as evacuation centres.
It was the worst earthquake I have ever experienced in my life. The aftershocks are still strong. Lots of houses have fallen down and there are lots with cracks. Thank God it was during the day and on a holiday as many people were outside when the quake happened. Rescue is the first priority. Lots of people have lost their homes and are out on the street or in open spaces, so we will be looking to provide them with food and temporary shelter.
Everybody had to spend the night outside and we got an advisory from the government as well to stay outside and we just went round to see people in neighbourhood locality.
It was quite cold, it was about 11 degrees centigrade, with the wind blowing, so it was quite difficult for people. But then they had no choice because aftershocks kept coming. In fact, we lost count, but we read in today’s newspapers that there were about 65 aftershocks altogether throughout the evening and late night. So there is a state of panic.
6.50pm AEST
Our CEO @TanyaBarronPlan was there when #nepalquake hit & is now helping coordinate our response. Support our efforts http://t.co/e48dnE7Dn7
Aid agency Plan International tell us that they have reports of “widespread devastation” in remote districts west of yesterday’s huge earthquake. The charity - whose response is focused on the affected children - fears that poor quality buildings in rural areas - including homes and schools - will have been largely flattened in the districts of Parbat, Baglung and Myagdi, a short distance west of the epicentre.
We are hearing from colleagues on the ground that destruction in these areas is widespread. Homes and schools have been flattened.
Our hope is that the timing of the earthquake - Saturday lunchtime - may have helped limit the loss of life. But we’re concerned about the impact of the huge aftershock we’ve just felt.
6.06pm AEST
We’re continuing our rolling coverage of events in Nepal as the search and rescue effort continues. I’m about to hand over our coverage to my colleague Alexandra Topping in London. Here’s a summary of events as they stand at the moment:
5.45pm AEST
My colleagues have just provided this extensive update on events as they stand now in Nepal, and the international responses to the disaster. You can read the full version here:
The death toll from the devastating earthquake in Nepal climbed above 1,900 on Sunday and was continuing to rise as officials struggled to gauge the full scale of the disaster and the world rushed to provide desperately needed aid.
Dozens of aftershocks jolted Nepal on Saturday and Sunday as people sheltered where they could. Nepalese authorities continually revised the number of dead upwards a day after the Himalayan country was shaken by a magnitude 7.8 quake that wrecked houses, flattened centuries-old temples and triggered avalanches onMount Everest.
5.41pm AEST
My colleague Anna Codrea-Rado in Nepal has just provided some further updates on the severity of the 6.7 magnitude aftershock that just hit 65km east of Kathmandu.
She said the quake felt “about the same strength as the original one but didn’t last as long.”
5.35pm AEST
Nepal has been struck by a further aftershock of 6.7 magnitude. The US Geological Survey has reported that the epicentre was located 65km east of Kathmandu.
The Wall Street Journal reported there has now been 31 aftershocks that are continued since the first quake hit on Saturday:
There were 31 aftershocks recorded in Nepal during the 23 hours after the 7.8-magnitude quake on Saturday morning. All of them were magnitude 4 and above.
5.25pm AEST
There are some devastating before and after photos from some of Nepal’s historic sites that were destroyed from the quakes. Here’s some of the images that are being circulated of the Dharahara Tower and other sites that have been reduced to rubble.
#Nepal’s Landmarks, Before and After #NepalQuake (Maju Deval & Dharahara Tower) pic.twitter.com/DSD6zhN00I
Devastating earthquake reduces Nepal's historic landmarks to rubble http://t.co/FTv3KIu0EZ
5.04pm AEST
My colleague Ishwar Rauniyarish has just sent through another update on events in Nepal. The death toll has again risen, according to a police spokesman. The district of Bhaktapur has seen 219 people die, with hundreds of houses collapsing.
The death toll rose to 1953 and 4629 injured, according to Nepal police spokesman Kamal Singh Bam.
“We are lacking proper resources and equipments to deal with the rescue, we are trying our best though,” Bam said. “We don’t have enough crane[s] to dig out rapidly in all places - so it’s taking time to recover the buried.”
4.18pm AEST
My colleague Anna Codrea-Rado has just sent through another update from Kathmandu, where she’s been speaking to people in the aftermath of the quake:
David Stucky and David Csumrick, both 63, were in Kathmandu after returning from hiking to the Annapurna Base Camp. The friends said they were in a book shop, buying mountaineering books in anticipation of catching their evening flights home to Canada and Barbados, when the quake started.
They were in the Pilgrim’s Bookstore in the Thamel neighbourhood and said books were flying off the shelves. “Everyone fell to their knees within seconds,” Stucky said.
4.06pm AEST
This video from Associated Press is a useful summary of where events stand so far with the quake and the aftermath.
4.04pm AEST
The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, has also spoken about the disaster that has struck Nepal. Here’s a short summary of what he said in a radio address from NDTV:
3.51pm AEST
There are now some incredible images coming from Mount Everest of the aftermath of the avalanche that struck following the quake. This photo shows the base camp, which has been partially buried under snow.
3.47pm AEST
My colleague Ishwar Rauniyar said the Nepalese home ministry has now confirmed the death toll has again risen, and is now at 1910.
There is also now a major rescue effort underway at Mount Everest to try and reach the base camp with helicopters to transport wounded.
Mountain rescue helicopters braved poor weather to reach Everest base camp on Sunday morning to ferry out badly injured survivors from the avalanche that killed at least 17 at the encampment on Saturday.
The avalanche was triggered by Saturday’s huge earthquake that devastatedNepal, and sent blocks of rock and ice ploughing through the camp where expeditioners assemble to begin their assault on the world’s highest mountain.
3.00pm AEST
More reports are beginning to come through from Mount Everest about the number of injuries and casualties. The latest reported figures bring the number of deaths to 17 on Everest, with 61 injured.
Evacuating those who were injured is proving to be a difficult task. My colleague Peter Beaumont has this update on events:
Climbers at the Mount Everest base camp – and others trapped higher on its slopes – were locked in a desperate effort to treat injured colleagues caught in a devastating avalanche that swept through the encampment after being triggered by Saturday’s powerful earthquake.
With at least 17 people believed to have been killed on Everest, and 61 injured, climbers in the camp sent frantic messages calling for helicopter assistance to evacuate the most badly wounded.
2.41pm AEST
My colleague Anna Codrea-Rado has been speaking this morning with tourists who were visiting Kathmandu when the quake struck. Here’s a dispatch she’s just sent through:
Matthew Wojciechowski, 47, was in Kathmandu for a tattoo convention when the earthquake struck. “I thought it was a very loud helicopter landing at first,” he said.
Wojciechowski said he was walking towards the hall where the convention was being held when it happened, and he rushed towards it to find his girlfriend who was inside.
2.15pm AEST
Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, has just pledged a substantial aid package to deliver assistance to Nepal.
Bishop said that although there were Australians in Nepal who were unaccounted for, there had been no reported deaths of Australians. Here is the full release:
The Australian embassy in Nepal is providing assistance to Australians and has confirmed the safety of over 200.
There are 549 Australians registered as travelling in Nepal and officials are working under challenging conditions to locate all those in the country.
1.57pm AEST
My colleague Ishwar Rauniyar has sent through another update, this time on the situation at Mount Everest. He said there are a large number of injured people waiting to be moved.
Climbing guide Pemba Sherpa said at least 300 tourists are waiting at Lukla, the gateway to Everest.
“Many injured are being ferried to Lukla from Feriche and are getting treatment here, if not recovered will be sent to Kathmandu,” Sherpa said.
1.48pm AEST
A large number of the Nepalese community have been displaced as a result of the earthquake. Many were forced to sleep outside on Saturday, after buildings were either reduced to rubble or simply too unstable to risk staying in. Aftershocks continued to reverberate throughout the night.
1.40pm AEST
The quake triggered severe avalanches on Mount Everest that has led to at least 17 deaths, and severely damaged the base camp. One climber who was there on Saturday during the quake described to CNN the devastating scenes at Everest:
Jon Reiter is no stranger to Mount Everest –its world-record height, its prestige, its challenges.
And its dangers.
1.35pm AEST
China’s Xinhua news agency has posted a series of photos highlighting the rescue effort in Tibet.
While the epicentre of the quake was in Nepal, parts of Tibet have also been affected and are now being assessed as part of search and rescue operations.
Rescuers battle landslide debris to deliver relief supplies in quake-hit Nyalam County, SW China's Tibet #NepalQuake pic.twitter.com/wRVlpT67pb
1.28pm AEST
My colleague Ishwar Rauniyar said the Nepal home ministry has again revised the death toll upwards to 1,896 people.
He’s also outlined there are further concerns about the medical care the injured will be able to receive, with hospitals overloaded and short on supplies.
Shops are closed, it’s even difficult to manage food, water for the injured.
1.22pm AEST
Foreign government are also trying to determine how many of their own citizens are missing in Nepal. This update outlines some of the international efforts that are ongoing to locate missing people:
Foreign countries were rushing to confirm the situation of their nationals in Nepalon Sunday after the massive earthquake when it levelled buildings in Kathmandu and caused deadly avalanches reaching the heights of Everest and surrounds.
In Australia officials, families and friends were appealing for information about a list of missing that could stretch into the dozens. Families put more than 60 names on the Red Cross Family Links website.
1.05pm AEST
My colleague Ishwar Rauniyar has just sent through another update from Nepal.
The administrative chief of the Western Development Region, Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, said Gorkha district is hard hit by the earthquake in western Nepal.
“So far 107 people have died in the district, and we haven’t been able to send more support to three village development committees,” Thapaliya said.
1.03pm AEST
AAP is also reporting that Sir Edmund Hillary’s son Peter was trekking in Nepal when the earthquake struck:
Sir Edmund Hillary’s son Peter was trekking in Nepal when the magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck.
“He’s fine,” his wife Yvonne Oomen told AAP on Sunday.
12.33pm AEST
My colleague Ishwar Rauniyar has sent through this devastating image of one of Kathmandu’s oldest temples as he surveys the damage in the city. The temple – which previously was a resting place for the Nepalese – has been levelled by the quake.
12.22pm AEST
In a terrible prescience, an expert group met just one week ago in Kathmandu to discuss how the country could prepare for the next large earthquake. Associated Press spoke to one of the scientists who attended the meeting:
Nepal’s devastating earthquake was the disaster experts knew was coming.
Just a week ago, about 50 earthquake and social scientists from around the world came to Kathmandu, Nepal, to figure out how to get this poor, congested, overdeveloped, shoddily built area to prepare better for the big one, a repeat of the 1934 temblor that levelled this city. They knew they were racing the clock, but they didn’t know when what they feared would strike.
12.15pm AEST
The United States agency for international development has also released a statement. It said the organisation would deploy a disaster response team and an initial $1m aid pledge:
Our thoughts are with the people of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh in the aftermath of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck central Nepal today, affecting more than 6.6m people and causing widespread damage and destruction. USAID is deploying a disaster assistance response team (DART) to the region and is providing an initial $1m in emergency assistance as we assess humanitarian needs in cooperation with the government of Nepal.
USAID is also activating an urban search and rescue team to accompany disaster experts. The earthquake, which hit just north-west of Nepal’s densely populated capital, Kathmandu, has caused numerous buildings to collapse and made some roads impassable. It also triggered an avalanche in the Mount Everest region and aftershocks of a considerable magnitude. In addition to the DART, USAID staff based in Bangkok, Thailand and Washington, DC, are monitoring the situation closely in coordination with US mission disaster relief officers in the region.
12.08pm AEST
The international community is beginning to pledge support to Nepal to help in the relief effort. At this early stage there have been few pledges of financial aid, with countries instead sending crisis personnel to assist in the major search and rescue operation that is under way.
The United States secretary of state, John Kerry, has said they will pledge $1m to the aid effort and will also assist with a disaster response team. The Sri Lankan health minister, Rajitha Senaratne, has announced the country will send a plane with doctors, engineers and other supplies to assist Nepal.
12.00pm AEST
Tech companies have also been attempting to deploy their services to help with communications with those in affected areas of Nepal.
Google has launched its “person finder” tool that allows people to provide information if they are looking for someone, or if they have information about the whereabouts of a person. The tool is designed to help people find each other in the aftermath of a humanitarian crisis.
11.51am AEST
The New York Times has published an illuminating analysis of the genesis of quakes in Nepal and surrounding countries. It provides some important context to how this quake occurred and why the devastation has been so widespread:
More than 25m years ago, India, once a separate island on a quickly sliding piece of the Earth’s crust, crashed into Asia. The two land masses are still colliding today, pushed together at a speed of 1.5 to 2 inches a year. The forces have pushed up the highest mountains in the world in the Himalayas and set off devastating earthquakes.
Experts had warned of the danger to the people of Katmandu for decades. The death toll in Nepal on Saturday was practically inevitable given the tectonics, the local geology that made the shaking worse and the lax construction of buildings that could not withstand the shaking.
11.36am AEST
This map from the United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs really highlights the sheer scope of the disaster unfolding in Nepal.
A substantial portion of the population was exposed to moderate to strong levels of shaking arising from the quake. The most violent shaking occurred in populated areas around central Nepal.
#Nepalquake: An estimated 4.6 million people were exposed to the #earthquake shaking pic.twitter.com/JfGkel2G0r
11.31am AEST
My colleague Anna Codrea-Rado is in Nepal and has taken some pictures of the damage.
She saw many people sleeping in the streets this morning, with the risks of aftershocks and unstable buildings still causing serious concern among residents.
11.26am AEST
The harrowing images of the aftermath are continuing to come through. These pictures show the massive extent of the search effort that is under way in metropolitan areas of Nepal.
11.14am AEST
My colleague Ishwar Rauniyarish has just sent through this update from Kathmandu. He is speaking with community members on the ground and just heard this from a Nepalese government official:
A spokesman for the ministry of home affairs, Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, said that the death toll this morning was now at 1,805, with 4,700 injured.
There are still aftershocks going on – people are in a state of confusion about how long will it take.
11.10am AEST
The latest United Nations situation report on the quake and its aftermath reports that there are serious hospital shortages in Kathmandu. It also said that the widespread damage to buildings means that most of the population has been displaced and is without shelter:
In Kathmandu Valley, hospitals area overcrowded, running out of room for storing dead bodies and also running short of emergency supplies. BIR hospital is treating people in the streets. There are reports that the hospital emergency stocks are depleting/used up and there is a need for a government decision on bringing kits from the military. Majority of population remaining outside houses due to fear of aftershocks and structural damage to buildings.
GON has held a meeting of their central natural disaster relief committee (CNDRC), followed by meetings with cabinet and the humanitarian community. An HCT meeting followed in the evening. Government reports that all hospital staff mobilised and are deploying small teams to hospitals in Kathmandu. Chitwan and Pokhara which both are well staffed are sending medical teams to worst affected areas – Gorkha and Lamjung. Government is intending to set up displaced camps in Kathmandu Valley and outside, where there are APF bases as these have established water supply and security.
11.02am AEST
This CCTV footage, although silent, paints an eerie picture of the moment the quake struck Nepal.
10.59am AEST
This quake is likely to cause severe difficulties for Nepal. The country is one of the poorest in the world, and was listed 157th out of 187 countries in the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development report in 2013.
To put that in context, the latest data from the World Bank shows that 25% of the country lives below the poverty line. The economic forecast for the country was not promising, and predicted a decreasing GDP looking forward until 2017.
Democratic politics was introduced in 1991 after popular protests, but was marked by frequent changes of government. The last king of Nepal, Gyanendra, twice assumed executive powers – in 2002 and 2005.
Maoist rebels waged a decade-long campaign against the monarchy, leaving more than 12,000 people dead and 100,000 people displaced, UN figures show.
10.54am AEST
The United States National Geographic Survey has posted a summary of the extent of the quake and provided some context about why the damage has been so widespread.
The summary said the fault line ran across very heavily populated areas. The epicentre of the quake was just 80km north-east of Kathmandu.
Although a major plate boundary with a history of large-to-great-sized earthquakes, large earthquakes on the Himalayan thrust are rare in the documented historical era. Just four events of M6 or larger have occurred within 250km of the April 25, 2015, earthquake over the past century. One, an M6.9 earthquake in August 1988, 240km to the south-east of the April 25 event, caused close to 1,500 fatalities. The largest, an M8.0 event known as the 1934 Nepal-Bihar earthquake, occurred in a similar location to the 1988 event. It severely damaged Kathmandu, and is thought to have caused around 10,600 fatalities.
10.44am AEST
We are starting to see more and more images that highlight the extent of the damage caused by the quake. Buildings and temples across the country have been nearly levelled, and many Nepalese are helping in the major rescue and recovery operations that are still ongoing.
People aghast at the sight of their historic temples destroyed. Thousands walking home, chaos #NepalEarthquake pic.twitter.com/sSLGP6UsB5
Truly awful sight. Kathmandu's Darbar Square, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in ruins after today's earthquake. pic.twitter.com/AoAtbGhmPq
Still can't believe what I witnessed in #NepalQuake today. History crumbling, a nation in despair. pic.twitter.com/sFcOj2vzVi
10.44am AEST
Welcome to our continuing coverage of events in Nepal after a major earthquake on Saturday. The country is waking up to the enormous damage caused by the quake and to continue search-and-rescue efforts for those who may be trapped or injured. Here’s a summary of events as they stand so far:
- A state of emergency has been declared in Nepal after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the country on Saturday.
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