Red Cross warns of ‘total devastation’ in quake-hit rural Nepal

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) meanwhile warned on Thursday they were “extremely concerned” about the welfare of hundreds of thousands of people, with those in remote areas outside the Kathmandu Valley facing an unknown fate. Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy has been pulled from the rubble of Nepal’s earthquake, five days after the disaster. Rescuers took hours to free the teenager from a collapsed hotel in Kathmandu - just as hopes had begun to fade of finding anyone else alive. A photograph of a four-month-old baby pulled from the rubble on Sunday was also released. A team from the Nepalese army rescued little Sonit Awal when his father heard faint cries in the ruins of the family home. The soldiers returned and found the baby alive after 22 hours trapped in dirt.

The rain is adding to the problems. Nature seems to be against us.

Rameshwor Dandal, chief of the disaster management centre

The death toll in Nepal from a massive weekend earthquake has risen to nearly 5,500, according to a new tally by disaster management officials. Desperate survivors clashed with riot police in Nepal’s capital on Wednesday, as the United Nations appealed for $415 million for the devastated Himalayan nation. A total of 5,489 people are now known to have died in the 7.8-magnitude quake, according to an update from the National Emergency Operation Centre, while more than 100 others were killed in neighbouring India and China.

This is a disaster on an unprecedented scale. There have been some weaknesses in managing the relief operation.

Rameshwor Dandal, chief of the disaster management

Asia-Pacific Quake survivors