Nepal urges countries to send aid to help it cope with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that killed just over 1,800 people, a toll predicted to rise as rescuers used their hands to dig for survivors among the rubble.
Friends and family of Australians missing in the region have asked for prayers taking to social media to appeal for public assistance.
Some of the Australians listed as missing include Ballantyne Forder, 20, from Perth, Dianne Coburn, 59, and Liam Oliver, 18, from Victoria, Zachary Sheridan, 20, from Adelaide, a 43-year-old man and Hamish McKee, 21, from Canberra.
Thousands of people braved freezing temperatures and patchy rain to sleep on pavements, in parks or in fields in the crowded Kathmandu valley, too afraid to return to homes damaged by the magnitude-7.9 quake.
“We have launched a massive rescue and rehabilitation action plan and lots needs to be done,” information and broadcasting minister Minendra Rijal told Indian television.
“Our country is in a moment of crisis and we will require tremendous support and aid.”
A police spokesman said the death toll in Nepal alone had reached 1,805, with around 4,718 injured. More than 630 have been killed in the Kathmandu valley and at least 300 in the capital itself.
A further 36 fatalities were reported in northern India, 12 in Chinese Tibet and four in Bangladesh.
At least 18 of those killed in Nepal were people at Mount Everest base camp, part of which was buried after an avalanche triggered by the earthquake.
More than 1,000 climbers had gathered there at the start of the climbing season.
Choti Sherpa, who works at the Everest Summiteers Association, was unable to call her family and colleagues on the mountain.
“Everyone is trying to contact each other, but we can’t,” she said. “We are all very worried.”
India has sent in military aircraft with medical equipment and relief teams with Israel and the United States also announcing response teams would be sent.
The US said it had authorised an initial $US1 million to address immediate needs.
US secretary of state John Kerry said the government was “working closely with the government of Nepal to provide assistance and support”.
China has also dispatched a 62-member search and rescue team, official news agency Xinhua reported.
The group, including six sniffer dogs and carrying rescue and medical equipment, was set to reach the capital Kathmandu by midday to “carry out humanitarian rescue”, the report said.
Hospitals running out of supplies
The quake, Nepal’s worst in 81 years, was more destructive for being shallow, toppling buildings, opening gaping cracks in roads and sending people scurrying into the open as aftershocks rattled their damaged homes.
Kathmandu’s Bir Hospital had so far received 300 to 350 patients with serious injuries, and most of them died, said paramedic Dinesh Chaudhary.
He said the hospital was running out of supplies and were procuring medicines from shops outside.
“There will be many more patients coming in tomorrow because only a very small part of the debris has been cleared,” he said.
Indian tourist Devyani Pant was in a Kathmandu coffee shop with friends when “suddenly the tables started trembling and paintings on the wall fell on the ground”.
“I screamed and rushed outside,” she told Reuters by telephone from the capital, where at least 300 people died.
“We are now collecting bodies and rushing the injured to the ambulance.
“We are being forced to pile several bodies one above the other to fit them in.”
ABC reporter Siobhan Heanue was in the old part of the capital, and experienced the quake firsthand.
“At the ancient temple complex near Patan in the south of the city called Durbar Square several temples collapsed to the ground as people fled,” she said.
“Shortly after rescue crews swung into action, locals and tourists even have been helping to clear the rubble.
“There were several violent aftershocks and Nepalese people have fled into open squares for safety.”
Victorian aid worker Wes Pryor was in Kathmandu when the earthquake struck, but said he had heard of more destruction elsewhere.
“There’s reports of landslides blocking roads, whole parts of neighbourhoods being pushed down the valley and very significant casualties in those areas,” he said.
“There are reports coming in from further west in Nepal, from Pokhara, where the epicentre of the earthquake was nearby, that there are villages there that are not there any more.”
He said people were calm, but expecting more chaos overnight.
“We expect it to rain so people are finding temporary shelter, rushing back into their homes — when it’s safe to do so — to get cooking equipment and water, so by and large the city is now pretty stable, people are calm,” he said.
“But as we have aftershocks and we see houses move a little bit we anticipate that there might be some more chaos going into the night.”
The US Geological Survey said the magnitude-7.9 quake struck 77 kilometres north-west of Kathmandu at lunchtime (local time), with walls crumbling and families racing outside their homes.
Rescue workers were seen dragging bodies from the rubble and TV footage showed chaotic scenes at the site, as people desperately tried to dig through piles of bricks and dust with their bare hands.
Among the Kathmandu landmarks destroyed by the quake was the historic 60-metre-high Dharahara Tower, built in 1832 for the queen of Nepal.
A jagged stump just 10 metres high was all that was left of the lighthouse-like structure.
As bodies were pulled out of the ruins, a policeman said up to 200 people had been trapped inside.
Dharmu Subedi, 36, was standing outside the tower when it collapsed.
“It was difficult to breathe, but I slowly moved the debris. Someone then pulled me out. I don’t know where my friends are,” said Mr Subedi from a hospital bed.
The tower had been open to visitors for the last 10 years and had a viewing balcony on its eighth floor.
Tremors felt as far as New Delhi, India
Strong tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi and other northern cities in India.
At least 34 people were known to have died in India, including 23 in the eastern state of Bihar, while buildings in the capital New Delhi had to be evacuated.
Laxman Singh Rathore, director-general of the Indian Meteorological Department, told reporters that the impact had been felt across large areas of the country.
“The intensity was felt in entire north India. More intense shocks were felt in eastern UP (Uttar Pradesh) and Bihar, equally strong in sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim,” he said.
Mr Rathore said that a second tremor of magnitude 6.6 had been recorded around 20 minutes later and centred around the same region.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet: “We are in the process of finding more information and are working to reach out to those affected, both at home and in Nepal”.
A police officer in the control room of the Indian state of Bihar said the phone lines were jammed with callers from across the heavily populated state.
“We don’t know about the casualties, we are flooded with calls,” the officer said.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said that two people, including an 83-year-old woman, were killed in the Tibet region as a result of the quake.
The earthquake was also felt across large areas of Bangladesh, triggering panic in the capital Dhaka as people rushed out onto the streets.
In the garment manufacturing hub of Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, at least 50 workers were injured after the quake set off a stampede in a garment factory, according to the private Jamuna television.
The earthquake is Nepal’s worst since a magnitude-8.3 quake struck the impoverished Himalayan nation in 1934, killing over 8,500 people.
ABC/Wires