Nepal earthquake collapses buildings in Kathmandu and northern India killing ... - ABC Online

Updated April 26, 2015 10:24:48

Six Australians have been listed as missing after a magnitude-7.9 earthquake struck Nepal and north India, killing more than 1,300 people and triggering a fatal avalanche on Mount Everest.

A police spokesman said the death toll in Nepal alone had reached 1,394, with around 4,700 injured. More than 630 have been killed in the Kathmandu valley and at least 300 in the capital itself.

There were also grave fears for a number of Australians who were in the area when the magnitude-7.9 earthquake hit.

Friends and family members have listed at least six Australians on the Red Cross website including Ballantyne Forder, 20, from Perth, Dianne Joy Coburn, 59, and Liam Coburn, 18, from Victoria, Zachary Sheridan, 20, from Adelaide, a 43-year-old man and Hamish McKee, 21, from Canberra.

The website allows concerned relatives or friends to list people as missing and for those affected by the disaster to indicate that they were safe.

A further 36 fatalities were reported in northern India, 12 in Chinese Tibet and four in Bangladesh.

At least 18 of those killed in Nepal were people at Mount Everest base camp, part of which was buried after an avalanche triggered by the earthquake.

More than 1,000 climbers had gathered there at the start of the climbing season.

Choti Sherpa, who works at the Everest Summiteers Association, was unable to call her family and colleagues on the mountain. "Everyone is trying to contact each other, but we can't," she said. "We are all very worried."

The quake, Nepal's worst in 81 years, was more destructive for being shallow, toppling buildings, opening gaping cracks in roads and sending people scurrying into the open as aftershocks rattled their damaged homes.

Kathmandu's Bir Hospital had so far received 300 to 350 patients with serious injuries, and most of them died, said paramedic Dinesh Chaudhary.

He said the hospital was running out of supplies and were procuring medicines from shops outside.

"There will be many more patients coming in tomorrow because only a very small part of the debris has been cleared," he said.

Thousands of people braved freezing temperatures and patchy rain to sleep on pavements, in parks or in fields in the crowded Kathmandu valley, too afraid to return to their damaged homes.

Indian tourist Devyani Pant was in a Kathmandu coffee shop with friends when "suddenly the tables started trembling and paintings on the wall fell on the ground".

"I screamed and rushed outside," she told Reuters by telephone from the capital, where at least 300 people died.

"We are now collecting bodies and rushing the injured to the ambulance.

"We are being forced to pile several bodies one above the other to fit them in."

Fears for missing Australians

Australian actor Hugh Sheridan has taken to twitter to ask for prayers for his brother Zachary Sheridan who is missing on Mt Everest and was last heard from four days ago.

"Please. Anyone who is awake, please pray for my little brother Zachary who is on Mt Everest, I'd appreciate every prayer you have spare x," he tweeted.

The actor and musician is best known for his role in the Australian series Packed to the Rafters.

The family of a Perth woman volunteering at a Kathmandu orphanage also used social media to ask for prayers saying they were concerned for her welfare.

Ballantyne Forder was last heard from on Wednesday when she left Pokhara for the capital, her sister, Amanda-Sue Markham, tweeted.

Mrs Markham said despite the images of destruction coming out of Nepal she was trying to stay positive.

"She's following her calling over there, looking after these children, so that's why I sort of think she's probably still with them," she said.

"I don't think getting to a phone at the moment is her top priority.

"I just hope someone hands her a sat phone soon so that we know she is safe."

Hamish McKee from Canberra has not been heard from since Thursday, when he was in the town of Pokhara. His mother reported him missing to the Red Cross today.

Victorians Liam Coburn Oliver, 18, from Daylesford, and Dianne Joy Coburn, 59, from Sunshine, are also among the missing. Dianne is Liam's aunt.

Liam's brother Darcy Oliver said his brother was travelling from Change, in Nepal's east, to Dharpani on the Annapurna Circuit.

"We have not heard back from him yet and any info from anyone would be a huge help," Mr Oliver said via Twitter.

Mr Oliver said he was not sure where his aunt was when the quake struck.

"I'm not 100 per cent [sure] where she is and any info that anyone can find would be a bonus," he said.

"[I'm] trying to get the word out."

ABC reporter Siobhan Heanue was in the old part of the capital, and experienced the quake firsthand.

"At the ancient temple complex near Patan in the south of the city called Durbar Square several temples collapsed to the ground as people fled," she said.

Siobhan Heanue in Kathmandu

In the capital Kathmandu, old temples — many World Heritage-listed and some dating back to the Middle Ages — have been destroyed or damaged.

The three Royal Squares, Patan Bhaktapur and Kathmandu Durbar Squares, suffered significant damage.

In Patan, several temples collapsed, sending thousands of people running for their lives.

The square was packed with tourists and locals out enjoying a Saturday afternoon relaxing on temple stoops and wandering through the historic buildings.

The built-up surrounds of the square left people with few options for safe harbour when the quake hit.

People screamed in terror as the shaking intensified and historic buildings crumbled.

The earthquake, measuring 7.9 in magnitude, lasted for over a minute and was followed by several strong aftershocks.

Locals rushed to clear piles of rubble, searching for survivors with their bare hands, picks and shovels, amid a minimal police presence.

The rescuers sometimes tossed, sometimes gingerly lifted priceless cultural relics from the ruins as they scrambled to unearth any survivors.

At least 12 bodies were pulled from the rubble at Patan Durbar Square with no reports of survivors from under collapsed buildings in the temple complex.

The city of Kathmandu was encircled in clouds of dust, with injured people sitting bandaged in the street and many being stretchered out of buildings by neighbours or dragged from under the rubble of collapsed homes and businesses.

The taxi and bus system disintegrated, leading to an exodus of thousands of people walking through the streets of the capital to get home, many stopping to gawk at destroyed temples and houses.

People converged in open spaces like wide streets and parks as aftershocks continued into the night, huddling amid mounds of concrete and bricks removed from the site of collapsed buildings nearby.

The healthcare and emergency infrastructure of the developing nation already appears severely stretched by the magnitude of this natural disaster.

Compounding the crisis for Nepal, mountaineering season has just begun and many thousands of trekkers in the mountains may not be able to be contacted for days.

"Shortly after rescue crews swung into action, locals and tourists even have been helping to clear the rubble.

"There were several violent aftershocks and Nepalese people have fled into open squares for safety."

Victorian aid worker Wes Pryor was in Kathmandu when the earthquake struck, but said he had heard of more destruction elsewhere.

"There's reports of landslides blocking roads, whole parts of neighbourhoods being pushed down the valley and very significant casualties in those areas," he said.

"There are reports coming in from further west in Nepal, from Pokhara, where the epicentre of the earthquake was nearby, that there are villages there that are not there any more."

He said people were calm, but expecting more chaos overnight.

"We expect it to rain so people are finding temporary shelter, rushing back into their homes — when it's safe to do so — to get cooking equipment and water, so by and large the city is now pretty stable, people are calm," he said.

"But as we have aftershocks and we see houses move a little bit we anticipate that there might be some more chaos going into the night."

The US Geological Survey said the magnitude-7.9 quake struck 77 kilometres north-west of Kathmandu at lunchtime (local time), with walls crumbling and families racing outside their homes.

Rescue workers were seen dragging bodies from the rubble and TV footage showed chaotic scenes at the site, as people desperately tried to dig through piles of bricks and dust with their bare hands.

Among the Kathmandu landmarks destroyed by the quake was the historic 60-metre-high Dharahara Tower, built in 1832 for the queen of Nepal.

A jagged stump just 10 metres high was all that was left of the lighthouse-like structure.

As bodies were pulled out of the ruins, a policeman said up to 200 people had been trapped inside.

Dharmu Subedi, 36, was standing outside the tower when it collapsed.

"It was difficult to breathe, but I slowly moved the debris. Someone then pulled me out. I don't know where my friends are," said Mr Subedi from a hospital bed.

The tower had been open to visitors for the last 10 years and had a viewing balcony on its eighth floor.

Tremors felt as far as New Delhi, India

Strong tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi and other northern cities in India.

At least 34 people were known to have died in India, including 23 in the eastern state of Bihar, while buildings in the capital New Delhi had to be evacuated.

Laxman Singh Rathore, director-general of the Indian Meteorological Department, told reporters that the impact had been felt across large areas of the country.

"The intensity was felt in entire north India. More intense shocks were felt in eastern UP (Uttar Pradesh) and Bihar, equally strong in sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim," he said.

Mr Rathore said that a second tremor of magnitude 6.6 had been recorded around 20 minutes later and centred around the same region.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet: "We are in the process of finding more information and are working to reach out to those affected, both at home and in Nepal".

A police officer in the control room of the Indian state of Bihar said the phone lines were jammed with callers from across the heavily populated state.

"We don't know about the casualties, we are flooded with calls," the officer said.

China's official Xinhua news agency said that two people, including an 83-year-old woman, were killed in the Tibet region as a result of the quake.

The earthquake was also felt across large areas of Bangladesh, triggering panic in the capital Dhaka as people rushed out onto the streets.

In the garment manufacturing hub of Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, at least 50 workers were injured after the quake set off a stampede in a garment factory, according to the private Jamuna television.

As fears grow of a humanitarian disaster in the impoverished Himalayan nation of 28 million, an overwhelmed government appealed for foreign help.

India was first to respond by sending in military aircraft with medical equipment and relief teams. Israel and the United States also announced response teams would be sent.

The United States said it had authorised an initial $US1 million to address immediate needs, the US Agency for International Development said on Saturday.

US secretary of state John Kerry said in a statement that the government was "working closely with the government of Nepal to provide assistance and support".

A magnitude-8.3 earthquake struck Nepal in 1934, killing over 8,500 people.

ABC/Wires

Topics: disasters-and-accidents, earthquake, nepal

First posted April 26, 2015 06:16:09

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