Aid has reached a hilly district near the epicentre of Nepal’s earthquake for the first time, four days after the quake struck and as the death toll from the disaster passed the 5,000 mark.
Nepalese women pleaded for food, shelter and anything else the helicopter might have brought on an in-and-out run to the smashed mountain village of Gumda.
Unlike in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, where most buildings were spared complete collapse, the tiny hamlets clinging to the remote mountainsides of Gorkha District have been ravaged. Entire clusters of homes were reduced to piles of stone and splintered wood. Orange plastic sheets used for shelter now dot the cliff sides and terraced rice paddies carved into the land.
“We are hungry,” cried a woman who gave her name only as Deumaya, gesturing towards her stomach and opening her mouth to emphasise her desperation. Another woman, Ramayana, her eyes hollow and haunted, repeated the plea: “Hungry! We are hungry!”
The next shipment has to be plastic sheets. These people need shelter more than they need food
But food is not the only necessity in short supply out here beyond the reaches of paved roads, electricity poles and other benefits of the modern world. These days, even water is scarce. Communication is a challenge. And modern medical care is a luxury many have never received.
Gumda is one of a handful of villages identified as the worst hit by Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake, from which it will almost certainly take years to recover.
As in many villages, though, the death toll in Gumda was far lower than feared, since many villagers were working outdoors when the quake struck at midday. Of Gumda’s 1,300 people, five were killed in the quake and 20 more were injured.
As the helicopter landed with 40-kilogram (90-pound) sacks of rice, wind and rain whipped across the crest of the mountain. Seeing the conditions, the UN World Food Programme’s Geoff Pinnock shouted over the roar of the propellers: “The next shipment has to be plastic sheets. These people need shelter more than they need food.”
About 200 villagers huddled under a few umbrellas and plastic sheets as they waited to receive the aid, some with runny noses and chattering teeth. With the erratic Himalayan weather, aid workers are worried about keeping people warm, fed and safe.
“More helicopters, more personnel and certainly more relief supplies including medical teams, shelter, tents, water and sanitation and food are obviously needed,”said Mr Pinnock, who was co-ordinating the aid relief flights.
With eight million Nepalese affected by the earthquake, including 1.4 million needing immediate food assistance, Mr Pinnock said the relief effort would stretch on for months. “It doesn’t happen overnight,” he said.
Nepalese police said the death toll from the quake had reached 5,027. Another 18 were killed on the slopes of Mount Everest, while 61 died in neighbouring India, and China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported 25 dead in Tibet.
The disaster also injured more than 10,000, police said, and rendered thousands more homeless.
The UN says the disaster has affected 8.1 million people – more than a quarter of Nepal’s population of 27.8 million – and that 1.4 million needed food assistance.
Planes carrying food and other supplies have been steadily arriving at Kathmandu’s small airport, but the aid distribution process remains fairly chaotic, with Nepalese officials having difficulty directing the flow of emergency supplies.