Nepal earthquake: Country still on edge

Kathmandu: A miraculous pullout of a 15- year-old boy alive on Thursday lifted the gloom on a chilly and rainy day as three fresh aftershocks kept people on edge in Nepal, five days after the country was devastated by a powerful earthquake.

A long silence followed by a round of cheers went up when Pemba Lama was brought out of the rubble of a seven-storey building, rekindling hopes of finding more survivors while relief operations were hit due to rains and tremors measuring between 3.9 and 4.7 on the Richter Scale.

Dust-covered and dazed Lama, a resident of Nuwakot, was brought to safety after five hours of rescue operation and shifted to a hospital. The teenager was the latest miracle survivor to be rescued after a four-month-old baby who was pulled out alive from under the rubble in Bhaktapur town.

Five days after a powerful earthquake jolted Nepal, its capital is slowly limping back to normalcy, with shops opening in several areas and electricity being restored partially in the quake-hit country.

There is also buzz on the road and supply of basic food items like milk and petrol is being gradually restored to Nepalese, who have been grappling with shortage of basic necessities since Saturday. However, it will take days for several far-flung areas to get back to normal because of the large-scale devastation. Rescuers are still struggling to reach remote mountainous areas, where relief efforts have been hampered by heavy rain and landslide even as global help poured in following the quake.

Helicopters could not fly due to the heavy rains in the morning as anger and frustration mounted in the country that has witnessed scenes of people clashing with police and seizing food and water supplies.

Officials have warned that they faced problems in getting aid into the country and then delivering it to some of the remote communities in desperate need.
As the rescue and relief operations have become centered in Kathmandu Valley, other affected districts remain in dire need of trained manpower to undertake search activities. A local public health worker said the government’s delay in providing direction and information is impeding urgent relief efforts in remote districts.

Water and sanitation have emerged as major concerns in the country that is now grappling with a new challenge of how to deal with post-disaster diseases. Health experts fear outbreak of diseases like diarrhoea, acute respiratory infection, eye and skin and health issues, adding to the woes of survivors, who are homeless and are struggling with scarcity of food and water supplies.

“We are worried. We are expecting viral and water-borne diseases,” P. V. Chand, chief of Policy and Planning and International Coordination Committee, Ministry of Health and Population, said. Hospitals in the capital were overflowing with patients, and doctors said they needed medicines and surgical equipment.