Nepal Quake Toll Hits 3,700

Officials say more than 3,700 people are now known to have died, with at least 6,500 injured, after a 7.8 magnitude quake devastated the Nepalese capital Kathmandu on Saturday. Tens of thousands of people huddled in tents desperate for help Monday. Teams equipped with heavy cutting gear and relief supplies were landing round the clock at the country’s only international airport on the outskirts of Kathmandu, AFP reported today.

Hundreds of mountaineers had gathered at Everest at the start of the annual climbing season at the time the quake hit the area. The real scale of disaster there has been impossible to evaluate with communications all but cut off. Three helicopters were deployed on Sunday to bring the climbers down from camps at Everest. (AFP, 27 April)

The historic nine-story Dharahara tower, a major tourist attraction, was among the buildings brought down in Kathmandu on Saturday.

Photo credit: Temporary shelters set up in open areas in Kathmandu (Prakash Mathema/AFP)