- 44 minutes ago
- Asia
Rescue efforts in Nepal are intensifying after nearly 2,000 people were killed on Saturday in the worst earthquake there in more than 80 years.
Many countries and charities have offered aid to deal with the disaster.
Seventeen people have been killed on Mount Everest by avalanches - the mountain's worst-ever disaster.
Meanwhile a powerful aftershock was felt on Sunday in Nepal, India and Bangladesh, and more avalanches were reported near Everest.
The 6.7 magnitude tremor, centred 60km (40 miles) east of Nepal's capital Kathmandu, sent people running in panic for open ground in the city.
Screams and the sound of an avalanche could be heard as an Indian mountaineer was interviewed by phone from near Everest by Reuters news agency.
Analysis - BBC Science correspondent Jonathan Amos
Large quakes are generally followed by a flurry of aftershocks, which tend to reduce in strength and frequency as time goes on.
As a rule of thumb, seismologists might expect to see at least one aftershock that measures roughly a magnitude less than the main shock. One of these, with a Magnitude of 6.6, was seen just half an hour after Saturday's main 7.8 event. Sunday has now experienced a further big aftershock of 6.7. From the early data, the tremor looks to have originated closer to the surface than Saturday's big shakers.
Although each step down on the magnitude scale is a 30-times drop in the energy released, Sunday's big aftershock will not have felt like that for those on the ground. And, of course, it may have toppled many already severely damaged buildings, adding to the difficulties of the rescue operation.
The death toll from the original earthquake could rise, as the situation is unclear in remote areas which remain cut off or hard to access.
Many mountain roads are cracked or blocked by landslides.
Scores of bodies have been ferried to hospitals in Kathmandu, many of which are struggling to cope with the number of injured.
More than 700 have died in the capital alone.
Medics are expecting a fresh influx of patients on Sunday as supplies run low.
Rescuers in places used their bare hands to dig for survivors still buried underneath piles of rubble and debris overnight on Saturday.
Army officer Santosh Nepal told the Reuters news agency that he and his soldiers had to dig a passage into a collapsed three-storey residential building in Kathmandu using pickaxes because bulldozers could not get through the ancient city's narrow streets.
"We believe there are still people trapped inside," he told Reuters.
The 7.8 magnitude quake struck an area of central Nepal between Kathmandu and the city of Pokhara on Saturday morning.
There were also victims in India, Bangladesh and in the Chinese region of Tibet.
It is the worst earthquake to strike Nepal since one in 1934 which killed some 8,500 people.
'Moment of crisis'
"We have launched a massive rescue and rehabilitation action plan and lots needs to be done," Information and Broadcasting Minister Minendra Rijal told Indian television.
"Our country is in a moment of crisis and we will require tremendous support and aid."
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Scores of people slept outside on Saturday night - braving wet and cold weather - either because their homes were destroyed or because they feared numerous aftershocks.
World leaders and global charities have offered emergency aid to Nepal, as the government grapples with the scale of the disaster.
India is at the forefront of the relief effort, offering help including helicopters which have been deployed to remote areas.
The United States, Britain, China, Pakistan and European Union countries are among those who have pledged aid. The US and China have both sent search-and-rescue teams.
"The absolute priority must be to reach people who are trapped and injured, and provide shelter and protection to those who have lost their homes," UK International Development Secretary Justine Greening said.
A number of international charities including Red Cross, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders and Christian Aid are also sending teams to quake-hit areas.
"We do not yet know the scope of the damage, but this could be one of the deadliest and most devastating earthquakes since the 1934 tremor which devastated Nepal and [the Indian state of] Bihar," said International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Asia-Pacific Director Jagan Chapagain.
The IFRC said it was especially worried about the fate of villages near the epicentre of the quake, some 80km (50 miles) from Kathmandu.
'Rubble and landslides'
The problems have been compounded by erratic internet and mobile phone communications.
British Red Cross spokeswoman Penny Sims said it was hard to get an accurate picture of what is going on.
"A lot of the roads are blocked, there's rubble, there's been landslides as well... So that is going to make the aid effort very difficult," she told the BBC.
Foreign climbers and their Nepalese guides around Mount Everest were caught by the tremors and a huge avalanche.
As well as the 17 confirmed deaths, 61 people were injured when part of the base camp was buried under snow.
Helicopters trying to airlift the injured to Kathmandu were delayed by cloudy weather, but have now managed to land at the base camp.
Dan Fredinburg, a Google executive who described himself as an adventurer, was among the dead, Google confirmed.
Offers of aid:
- The US is sending a disaster response team and has released an initial $1m (£0.7m) according to the US aid agency USAid
- India has sent several aircraft, carrying medical supplies and a mobile hospital, as well as a 40-strong disaster response team, including rescuers with dogs
- The UK is sending an eight-strong team of humanitarian experts
- Pakistan is sending four C-130 aircraft carrying a 30-bed field hospital and army doctors and specialists; urban search-and-rescue teams equipped with radars and sniffer dogs; and food items, including 2,000 meals, 200 tents and 600 blankets
- Norway has promised 30 million krone (£2.5m; $3.9m) in humanitarian assistance
- Germany, Spain, France, Israel and the European Union are also pledging to send aid
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