Survivors Flee Kathmandu as Quake Toll Tops 3.7K

Disease fears rise as food, water runs out
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 27, 2015 5:34 AM CDT
Updated Apr 27, 2015 7:53 AM CDT

Aftershocks from Saturday's devastating earthquake are still shaking Kathmandu, and while more aid is starting to arrive, a lot of people are trying their best to get out of the Nepalese capital. Roads out of the city are jammed, and for a second night, hundreds of thousands of people spent last night sleeping in the open or in basic tents, either because their homes had been destroyed or because they were too afraid to spend the night inside, Reuters reports. The city is already experiencing shortages of food and water, and overwhelmed health workers fear that disease is likely to spread in the aftermath of the disaster. In other developments:

  • Officials say the death toll now stands at more than 3,700, but aid workers warn that the scale of the disaster is still unknown and many thousands more could have died in remote villages that are hard to access even in good conditions, reports the AP.

  • "Water is becoming scarce and there are fears that children in particular could be at risk of disease," warns BBC correspondent Sanjoy Majumder in Kathmandu, but "aid flights are coming in rapidly and in fact Kathmandu airport is running out of parking bays."
  • At least 17 people were killed by a quake-triggered avalanche on Everest, including at least three Americans: Google exec Dan Fredinburg, base camp doctor Marisa Eve Girawong, and Tom Taplin, 61, a filmmaker who was making a documentary about the Everest base camp. "It sounds trite, but he died doing what he loved doing," his wife tells NBC News.
  • Dozens more are stranded or missing in the Everest area, including two Brooklyn men believed to have been on a trail in the area. A friend who usually hikes with the pair tells the New York Daily News that he's at the point of going out to join the search for Danny Cole and Mendy Losh, but "I'm sitting tight for another day. I have a gut feeling that I will hear good news soon. You can't lose your two best friends."
  • A terrifying video uploaded to YouTube yesterday, apparently by German mountaineer Jost Kobusch, captures the moment the avalanche crashed into Everest base camp and the panic in the aftermath as survivors huddled in a tent, Mother Jones reports.
(More Nepal stories.)

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