An Indian army mountaineering team has found 18 bodies on
Mount Everest after a the earthquake in Nepal unleashed an avalanche on the
mountain, according to an army spokesman.
Nepal's tourism ministry could only confirm 10 deaths, but
spokesman Gyanendra Shrestha said that the death toll could rise, and that the
avalanche had buried part of the base camp.
A powerful earthquake, epicentred in Nepal, today shook northern
and eastern parts of India, killing 34 people and injuring about 100 others as
houses and buildings collapsed or were damaged.
States such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal were the worst
affected parts of India and massive rescue and relief operations were initiated
on war-footing basis with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself monitoring the
situation and issuing directives.
Union Home Secretary L C Goyal told a press conference here in the
evening that 34 people had died due to earthquake in various parts of the
country. Of them, 23 died in Bihar, eight in Uttar Pradesh and three in
West Bengal, he said. Nearly 100 people were injured in these states.
A
powerful earthquake flattened houses and buildings in Nepal on Saturday,
killing nearly 1,500 people as the worst temblor in 80 years destroyed the
iconic Dharhara tower and renowned Darbar Square in the heart of the capital.
The quake
measuring 7.9 on Richter scale, which was followed by 16 aftershocks of
magnitude 4.5 or greater, killed 876 people including over 250 in Kathmandu and
left several thousands injured and hundreds missing across the country.
The
earthquake around 11:56 am with epicentre at Lamjung, around 80 kilometers
northwest of Kathmandu, had its impact in several cities in Bihar, West Bengal
and UP and tremors were felt across vast stretches of east and northeast India.
It was
also felt in Southern and Western parts of India, China, Bhutan and as far as
Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Miraculously
the famous 5th century Pashupatinath temple here was undamaged, while a number
of old temples were razed. Several buildings, most of them old, in the
densely-popu
At least
180 bodies have been retrieved from the debris of two-century old nine-storey
landmark Dharhara tower in the centre of the capital.
Kathmandu's
Darbar Square, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation World Heritage site, was completely damaged in the quake which was
the worst to hit Nepal and surrounding regions after the earthquake of 8.4
magnitude which occurred along the Nepal-Bihar border in 1934.
The army,
the police and emergency workers were pressed into service for rescue of those
trapped and rushing injured survivors to hospitals. Many of the injured could
be seen suffering bleeding injuries covered in dust from the debris.
The
daughter of a local employee in the Indian embassy died and his wife suffered
serious injuries when a house in the mission complex in Kathmandu collapsed
during the quake.
Nearly
125 people from Maharashtra and Telangana are stranded in Nepal after the
earthquake. Around 80 people from Nashik had gone to Nepal for pilgrimage while
15-20 people were on a trekking expedition.
Twenty-five
tourists from Hyderabad, who are in Kathmandu, are safe. "Now, all of us
are safe in an open ground, close to the Pashupatinath temple in
Kathmandu," Gowrishankar, who took the tourists, said.
Hospitals
were over-crowded with injured, with many of them being treated in the open
outside the hospitals. An emergency cabinet meeting has announced 29 districts
as crisis zones, the Home ministry said.
