Nepal Quake Toll Passes 6000, Thousands Still Uncounted for

The death toll in the massive earthquake which struck Nepal on Saturday has passed 6,000, and many thousands are still unaccounted for.

A home ministry official said the 6,134 fatalities had been confirmed, with 13,906 injured.

Although the battered south Asian nation celebrated the rescue of two people pulled out alive from the wreckage of buildings in Kathmandu on Thursday, the sheer extent of the destruction is becoming clear.Nepal earth quake

Thousands of villages have been devastated, with up to 90% of clinics and schools in some districts rendered unusable, The Guardian reported.

Ram Sharan Mahat, the Nepalese finance minister, said it at least $2bn would be needed to rebuild homes, hospitals, government offices and historic buildings and he appealed for help from international donors.

“This is just an initial estimate and it will take time to assess the extent of damage and calculate the cost of rebuilding,” Mahat said.

Other estimates have been higher. Huge numbers of ancient monuments and important cultural buildings will also need to be restored, if they are not demolished. Major palaces in Kathmandu have been damaged and cracked.

Hundreds of thousands of people made homeless by the quake, which registered 7.8 magnitude, are yet to receive aid because of logistic bottlenecks, poor infrastructure and a chaotic government response.

Three thousand people are still unaccounted for in the badly hit Sindhupalchowk district, while little is known about northern areas of the Gorkha district where about 10,000 live. Local officials fear widespread destruction.