Aftershocks add to Nepal's suffering

KATHMANDU, Nepal - Nepal's capital became a city of whispers and rumors Sunday as residents hunkered down outdoors in tents and cars, and recurring aftershocks from Saturday's earthquake kept everyone on edge, fearing another big quake.

Food and water supplies ran low. Price gouging began. Electricity was intermittent. Rescuers battled to make it to residents of remote villages to save those still stranded more than 24 hours after the catastrophe. They continued clawing victims out of the rubble, sometimes with their bare hands.

The death toll kept climbing throughout the day, to more than 2,700 in Nepal and neighboring countries. Mass cremations began.

Then it began to rain.

"I am stuck about [372 miles] northwest of Kathmandu in a village," a despairing Ghanshayam Pandey, the director of a small charity, said in a telephone interview. "The deaths and injuries are overwhelming. . . .It's terrible."

Sunday afternoon's big aftershock in Nepal was magnitude 6.7, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, panicking already rattled citizens.

Two aircraft headed to Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport from India carrying some rescue personnel and aid workers had to head back to New Delhi because it was not safe to land, forcing a delay in relief efforts. Flights eventually resumed, only to be delayed again by weather.

Outside Kathmandu, many rescue crews had yet to reach more isolated villages, where authorities fear the devastation would be much worse. The Nepal military circulated aerial photos that showed entire villages flattened.

The United Nations issued a situation report that said the most affected areas were Gorkha and Lamjung, areas northwest of Kathmandu and close to the quake's epicenter, with damage to the Kathmandu Valley limited to historic, densely built-up areas. Hospitals were running out of room for corpses and emergency supplies, the report said.

A U.N. team arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday to assess the damage and identify the most urgent needs.

"It is essential that we move quickly and effectively," said Jamie McGoldrick, the U.N. resident coordinator. "We need to ensure that no further lives are lost and the needs of the most vulnerable prioritized."

The biggest challenge is that rescuers still don't have reliable information about what's going on in areas outside Kathmandu, including how many people are still trapped, according to O.P. Singh, the director-general of India's National Disaster Response Force. Relief agencies geared up for a humanitarian response.

Throughout Kathmandu on Sunday, even as rain began and darkness fell, people remained outside, too fearful of aftershocks to reenter their homes, gathering in parks, medians, schoolyards, anywhere there were open spaces.

Kathmandu district chief administrator Ek Narayan Aryal said tents and water were being handed out Monday at 10 locations, but that aftershocks were leaving everyone jittery.

"There have been nearly 100 earthquakes and aftershocks, which is making rescue work difficult. Even the rescuers are scared and running because of them," he said.

At Bir Hospital, one of the oldest hospitals in Kathmandu, doctors had treated patients outside in the hours after the earthquake. They had treated more than 300 people and performed 38 back-to-back surgeries on their one functioning operating table, according to Kapil Gautam, a doctor there. Most of the patients had been hurt in roof and wall collapses. More than 100 bodies lay outside in the courtyard, including 10 that were uncovered and unidentified.

Relatives of patients crammed the grounds outside, and the patients themselves sat on the floor in the foyer, too scared to stay in upstairs wards.

There, a truck driver named Dinesh Tamang comforted his wife, who had a swollen eye and a broken arm after the roof of their home collapsed Saturday. When the big aftershock occurred on Sunday, Tamang said, his wife started screaming in fear.

"It was very scary for all of us, but I had to be strong," he said. "I put my hand on her and said, 'Don't worry, the bad days will go soon.' "

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala returned to Nepal on Sunday and immediately met with the cabinet of ministers. The government has directed all medical stores and large supermarkets to remain open. The cabinet also decided to conduct mass public funerals unless relatives claim victims' bodies.

India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, spoke of the devastation during his popular radio address on Sunday.

"I can image what Nepal is going through, what the families of Nepal are going through," Modi said. "We will try and save as many people as we can. We have to also concentrate on relief operation. The rehabilitation process will also take a long time."

In the Tibet region of China, the death toll climbed to 20, with more than 200,000 affected. Houses and a historic temple collapsed.