Kathmandu was struck by a massive earthquake measuring 7.9 magnitude in Nepal on Saturday.The epicentre of this earthquake was in Pokhara, Nepal. This quake has caused high amounts of destruction in the country. Buildings, schools, temples; nothing was unaffected by this disaster. The death toll in Nepal has crossed 1000 leaving hundreds injured. 2 citizens from India are also confirmed dead.
Strong tremors were felt in parts of northern India like Delhi, Delhi-NCR, Kolkata, Jaipur, Lucknow and Ahmedabad. A total of 34 persons have been reported dead of which 23 were from Bihar alone. 3 including 2 men and 1 woman were killed in Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal. From Uttar Pradesh, three, two and one deaths were reported from Barabanki district, Gorakhpur and Sant Kabir Nagar, respectively. Many people were reported injured. Metro train services were affected in Delhi and Kolkata due to the disaster.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated relief operations which was monitered by himself. He said,”We are in the process of finding more information and are working to reach out to those affected, both at home and in Nepal.”
The Everest base camp was also hit during this earthquake. Massive avalanche trickled down to the base camp. The death toll in this area is 18 out of which 13 bodies have been recovered by the Indian army.
Air India will resume to fly to and from Kathmandu from Sunday. They tweeted,”With KTM airport open now, Air India will resume its KTM operations from tomorrow, to/from DEL & CCU. We will also be on standby to operate additional flights to fly out the stranded.
Ambassador of Nepal Deep Kumar Upadhyay said that his country is in need of mobile medical assisstance from India besides other help. He said,”We have been in touch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Our President (Ram Baran Yadav) is in touch with them and they have offered to help us. I thank India on behalf of Nepal for assisting us.”
India has kept its air backup C17 Globemaster, C130 Hercules and other helicopters ready for action if needed.
Tags: india Nepal Earthquake
