News Digest

Nepal villagers demand help after second quake

Thousands of villagers crowded the streets of this small Himalayan town Thursday, demanding government help after Nepal suffered its second major quake in less than three weeks. And while there have been occasional food handouts here, there was nowhere near enough supplies distributed for all the people who kept arriving. "We came here with such hopes and such difficulty, but now we’re just waiting and waiting,“ said Navraj Nama, 25, who came to Charikot with his brother and elderly uncle after the second earthquake hit Nepal on Tuesday. He said 90 percent of their home village, Danda Khorka, had been damaged in the April 25 quake, and about 50 of those buildings had collapsed when the second one hit.

After the first quake, we were not prepared for a second one so big.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala

The past three weeks have been misery for Nepal. A magnitude-7.8 earthquake killed more than 8,150 people, injured tens of thousands more and left hundreds of thousands homeless. Then, just as the country was beginning to rebuild, a magnitude-7.3 earthquake battered it again, killing at least 96 people and injuring more than 2,300. A search also continued Thursday for a U.S. Marine helicopter carrying six Marines and two Nepalese soldiers. It went missing Tuesday while delivering aid in the country’s northeast, U.S. officials said.

We need tents. Our people need shelter. With the rainy season, it will be difficult for people to survive in the open.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala