Nepal Earthquake Death-toll Reaches 5,700

When rescue and search operations are still ongoing in Nepal the death toll by the earthquake registered five days ago amounted so far 5,700.

The last official report, issued by the Interior Ministry, referred that the devastating telluric movement- the worst that hit that small nation of the Himalaya in the last 80 years- also caused various injuries to nearly 12,000 people.

The epicenter is at 7.9 degrees on the Richter scale and was located in Gorkha district, at the foot of the Himalaya mountain range and about 75 kilometers North of this capital.

Located in this region, the most hardest hit district was Sindhupalchowk with 1,587 dead, while Kathmandu district reports 1,521. Both districts account for nearly 60 percent of the fatalities.

Although with little hope of finding survivors, the rescue operations continue in all areas affected by the earthquake.

Alongside national forces, in this work participate teams from India, Sri Lanka, China, UK, Turkey, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, France, Israel, Malaysia and Japan.

Yesterday, a rescue squad of the Army and the Nepal Police rescued 1,600 tourists from the mountainous regions of Manang and Mustang and took them to the town of Pokhara.

According to the Interior Ministry report, 10 tourists from various countries died because of the quake.

To those killed in Nepal must be added 78 in three adjoining states of India (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) and 25 on the also bordering Chinese region of Tibet.

The quake was clearly perceptible also in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Operations Centre, reported that the massive quake completely destroyed 1.3 million homes and caused serious damages to nearly 86,000. More than 10,000 government buildings were completely or partially destroyed.

A few days ago Prime Minister, Sushil Koirala acknowledged that the scale of the tragedy has exceeded the possibilities of the Government to overcome it pointed out that as soon as the search efforts gain progress, the dead could reach 10,000.