Hospitals in Nepal are struggling to treat thousands of injured earthquake survivors, as aid groups and governments worldwide step-up efforts to get help to the stricken Himalayan nation.
Aftershocks continue to jolt Kathmandu and surrounding areas in the wake of Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake, which is believed to have killed more than 2,500 people.
Thousands of other survivors are being treated at public hospitals in Kathmandu and the lakeside town of Pokhara.
The ABC’s Samantha Hawley visited one Kathmandu hospital where she described the scene: “The stretchers spill out into the corridors while many patients lie on the floor clearly in pain”.
“The injuries range in seriousness but most commonly they are suffering fractures and head wounds. And as the weather worsens outside, the homeless take refuge in the hospital too making the already chaotic scene worse.”
Blocked roads and downed power lines are also posing challenges as search crews scour the wreckage of houses and historic temples in search of survivors.
Survivors from an avalanche at Mt Everest base camp have also recounted the horror of the impact, after 18 people were killed on the world’s highest mountain.
The US together with European and Asian nations is sending emergency crews to reinforce those scrambling to find survivors in the devastated capital Kathmandu and in cut-off rural areas.
“Tragically, more bodies are being pulled from collapsed buildings every hour,” the Australian Red Cross said in a statement.
“Communication is down in many areas. Widespread destruction, rubble and landslides are preventing access to provide aid in many villages.”
Regional communications manager for the Plan International aid organisation Mike Bruce said many areas, both rural and in some of the larger towns, had suffered landslides and roads were blocked.
Although mobile networks appeared to be being restored by mid-afternoon on Sunday, he said coverage remained sporadic.
“People are sleeping on the streets and cooking outside for the most part,” Bruce said.
“And we are talking about very, very poor areas of Nepal – areas that are already suffering a great deal.”
Water and medical supplies dwindling
Other aid organisations said they feared that stocks of essential supplies were rapidly running out, and described the fearsome effects of the quake.
“We witnessed terrible scenes of destruction,” Caritas Australia program coordinator for Nepal Eleanor Trinchera, who was an hour outside the capital when the quake struck, said.
“Hospitals were evacuated with patients being treated on the ground outside, homes and buildings demolished and some roads cracked wide open.”
A lack of electricity would soon be complicated by a scarcity of water, aid groups said, with medical supplies also dwindling.
Oxfam said morgues were also reaching capacity.
“Communication systems are congested and hospitals are crowded and are running out of room for storing dead bodies,” Oxfam Australia chief executive Helen Szoke said.
The World Health Organisation has given emergency health kits with medicines and supplies to hospitals treating the injured.
Survivors slept in the open in Kathmandu overnight, braving the cold for fear of being crushed by teetering buildings.
Hundreds of structures, including office blocks and a landmark nine-storey tower, crashed to the ground at around midday on Saturday when the quake struck.
There are 549 Australians registered as travelling in Nepal.
So far 200 have been confirmed safe, and there have been no reports of Australian deaths.
Australia pitches in $5m, Abbott flags more help to come
This morning Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Australia was offering $5 million in aid as a first response and would be considering what else it could do to help on the ground.
Britain, which has historic ties with Nepal and recruits Nepalese gurkhas into its army, released five million pounds ($10 million) while the US offered $US1 million and sent a disaster response team.
Nepal’s southern neighbour India dispatched 13 military aircraft loaded with tonnes of food, tents, blankets and other aid on Sunday.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said the first priority was to rescue those still trapped.
“Even now many people buried under the rubble must be alive,” Mr Modi said.
“Our effort will be to rescue as many people alive as possible.”
Russia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and China were among the other nations sending aid and specialist teams.
ABC/AFP