A miraculous pullout of a 15- year-old boy alive today 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.
Rescuers are still struggling to reach remote mountainous areas in the Himalayan nation, where relief efforts have been hampered by heavy rain and landslide even as global help poured in following the quake that has killed nearly 6,000 people and injured at least 11,000 others.
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 centredin Kathmandu Valley, other affected districts remain in dire need of trained manpower to undertake search activities.
All foreign rescue teams, except one from Britain, are deployed in Kathmandu Valley, media reported. A local public health worker said the government's delay in providing direction and information is impeding urgent relief efforts in remote districts.
Minendra Rijal, Nepal's minister of information and communications, said relief operations were underway but much more needs to be done. "life is returning to normal, but it will be some time to be completely normal.
"We have still not been able to properly manage to provide relief," he said. Foreign assistance has poured in but aid organisations said capacity constraints at the capital's single-runway airport, fuel shortages, damage to roads and the mountainous country's difficult terrain were all impeding aid efforts.
Since Saturday, the Indian Air Force has airlifted a total of 3,193 persons, flying a total of 48 fixed-wing sorties to land a total of 314.6 tonnes of relief material and equipment. Over 950 personnel have been deployed for rescue and relief operations in Nepal. With incessant rains adding to the misery of the victims, India today rushed 8,450 tents to Nepal.
The rescuers were yet to reach some of the worst-hit villages in Dhading, Sindhupalchok, Kavre and Nuwakot, among other districts. Water and sanitation have emerged as major concerns inthe 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.
"At the moment, we are worried with post earthquake- related diseases. We are expecting viral and water-borne diseases," Dr P V Chand, chief of Policy and Planning and International Coordination Committee, Ministry of Health and Population, told PTI.
Hospitals in the capital were overflowing with patients, and doctors said they needed medicines and surgical equipment. large numbers of people, who were afraid to go back to quake-damaged buildings, were living outdoors.
"We are living in hell," said a Nepalese man, who expressed anger at how his government has responded to areas devastated by the earthquake. "We will die if there is no help from the government or other organisations," another man said.
Despite their efforts to reach affected areas, relief works have been held back by the lack of coordination among the authorities, and the problem has exacerbated due to bad weather and geographical hindrances.
Prime Minister Sushil Koirala had said the toll could reach 10,000 because information from the affected remote villages is yet to come.