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** NEPAL EARTHQUAKE
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Overwhelmed Response, Rising Toll
The death toll from Saturday’s earthquake in Nepal has surpassed 3,600 with many more feared dead as authorities still can’t reach remote villages near the quake’s epicenter, The Guardian reports. (http://www.theguardian.com/
The quake’s devastation has sparked requests for rescue and assistance teams across the country, overwhelming the government. Unicef has warned that almost 1 million children have been “severely affected” and raised concerns about increased risks for waterborne and infectious disease outbreaks.
“Our biggest concern for them right now is going to be access to clean water and sanitation, we know that water and food is running out,” Unicef’s Christopher Tidey told a Guardian reporter.
Rescue and relief operations halted for a few hours on Sunday as intense aftershocks roiled the Kathmandu valley and the region, according to The Times of India (http://timesofindia.
Shattered by the earthquake, Nepal’s survivors must now prepare for heavy rain and thunderstorms for the next couple days.
Related: Perseverance and Grace as Nepal Is Turned Upside Down—The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/
Related: Nepal earthquake: Death toll rises above 3000 – BBC (http://www.bbc.com/news/
Related: In an Already Troubled Nepal, a Picture of Despair Emerges – The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/
Related: Nepal Earthquake: Doctors Forced to Operate in Tents; Hospitals Overwhelmed -- The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/
Related: WHO gives emergency health kits, funds to quake-hit Nepal – WHO (http://www.searo.who.int/
Related: Nepal was made vulnerable by more than its violent geology—The Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/
TOP OF THE AGENDA - CFR Update
Death Toll Rises Amid Aftershocks in Nepal
The death toll (BBC) in Nepal rose to above 3,700 people on Monday, with another 6,500 injured, following Saturday's
7.8-magnitude earthquake. The earthquake and its subsequent aftershocks
heavily damaged Nepal's infrastructure and heritage sites, caused
landslides in rural areas, and triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest,
killing at least eighteen people. Thousands of Nepalis have fled (Reuters) their homes and others have sought shelter under tents. The UN Development Program estimates (FT) that more than 40 percent of Nepal was affected by the quake. Nepal bolstered (Al Jazeera) its rescue efforts as foreign disaster assistance streams into the country.
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ANALYSIS
"Since
the quake of 1934, Nepal’s population has grown, become more urban, and
therefore denser. Urban population growth results in rapid building,
and Nepal has seen the mushrooming of brittle, multistory concrete
structures with little seismic resistance throughout the Valley," writes CFR's Alyssa Ayres.
"Nepal's unstable political scene
is another major obstacle. After a decade of conflict between the
government and Maoist insurgents, Nepal's politicians have been too busy
battling one another, most recently over constitutional reform, to
treat disaster preparedness as a priority. There have been no elections
at the district, village or municipal level for almost two decades, and
the committees that run local councils aren't' organized to coordinate
emergency assistance," writes Kunda Dixit in the New York Times.
"Over
millions of years, the squeezing has crushed the Himalayas like a
concertina, raising mountains to heights of several miles and triggering
earthquakes on a regular basis from Pakistan to Burma. Saturday's quake was neither unusual nor unexpected, although it was larger than most," writes Colin Stark for CNN.
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