Fresh tremors hamper Nepal's search for survivors

The US Geological Survey initially estimated economic losses to Nepal from the quake at 9% to 50% of gross domestic product, with a best guess of 35%

A fresh 6.7 magnitude aftershock in Nepal on Sunday hampered efforts to find survivors of a more powerful earthquake the day before that killed more than 2,400 people.

The tremors prompted authorities to temporarily halt flights into Kathmandu, the capital, where thousands of people are camping outdoors. The 7.8-magnitude temblor that struck shortly before noon on Saturday triggered avalanches on Mount Everest, killing at least 19 foreign climbers including a Google Inc product manager. "Rescue teams are looking for those buried - the priority is looking for survivors," Tirtha Raj Wagle, an official at Nepal's embassy in New Delhi, said on Sunday.

The International Monetary Fund, humanitarian groups and governments from China to India to Israel rushed to provide assistance to Nepal, one of Asia's poorest countries. While the temblor also downed buildings and took lives in neighboring India and China, Nepal suffered most of the damage.

The US Geological Survey initially estimated economic losses to Nepal from the quake at 9 per cent to 50 per cent of gross domestic product, with a best guess of 35 per cent.

Tourism is a key economic driver for Nepal, which has a gross domestic product that is smaller than any of the 50 US states. Its 28 million people have the lowest spending power of any Asian country apart from Afghanistan, IMF statistics show.

Many climbers remain stranded in two camps above the Everest base camp, said Zimba Zangbu Sherpa, a former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association. The injured and survivors are being airlifted from the Everest base camp to Kathmandu, according to Ang Tshering Sherpa, the current president.

Widespread rains are forecast to hit Nepal over the next 24 hours, threatening to further hinder relief efforts, the India Meteorological Department said on Sunday. It warned citizens to be beware of possible landslides.

India will rush more relief and rescue personnel to Nepal and increase supplies of medicine and food for the quake affected, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar told reporters in New Delhi on Sunday. The country will also set up medical camps along its border with Nepal, he said.

A website backed by the International Committee of the Red Cross listed hundreds of foreign tourists in Nepal who remained missing. Google said it had started a "person finder" tool to help track people missing in the earthquake, and would commit $1 million to its response.

The trekking company Summitclimb and Summittrek, based in Bristol, UK, and Lakebay, Washington, said on Facebook that its climbers were safe though the Icefall route up Everest was "destroyed."

Hundreds of people attempt to reach Everest's summit each year, typically paying a minimum of $30,000 per person and often far more for the privilege, according to an estimate by Outside magazine. The rising numbers of climbers has drawn complaints about overcrowding, littering and heightened danger.

The US Embassy in Nepal said on Twitter it is attempting to account for American citizens and provided relatives with numbers to call. "Our thoughts are with the Nepali people and we're ready to help," Peter W Bodde, the US Ambassador to Nepal, said in a message.

The Himalaya region is one of the world's most active seismic zones as the Indian subcontinent pushes north into the central Asia tectonic plate. The 1934 earthquake in Nepal, just west of Sikkim, killed more than 16,000 people. A 2005 quake in Kashmir killed more than 70,000 in Pakistan.

Nepal's shoddy building standards and lack of preparedness for a major earthquake were the subjects of an international conference in Kathmandu earlier this month.

Television images showed rescuers pulling out people who were trapped under the 19th century Dharahara Tower, a nine-story structure in Kathmandu that collapsed.

Sila Gurung, 28, who lives in a three-storey home with her mother in Nakhipot district, close to the popular tourist site Patan Durbar Square, said: "Everyone is very scared, and no one knows when it will be safe to go back home."