Earthquake: 'Thankful to Bihar, UP govt. for India-Nepal bus facility', says envoy Ranjit Rae

Ambassador of India to Nepal Ranjit Rae on Tuesday thanked state government of Bihar, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh for providing bus facility between India and Nepal for the quake-hit victims.

"This is a big tragedy, big loss to lives. Our defence forces have come and are working here. Till now, the focus is on relief and rescue operations. We have to save those people who are trapped. Indian

forces are giving full support to Nepal Government and forces in relief and rescue work," Rae told ANI.

"Number of medical teams have reached here. As per the information we have got, 14 Indians have lost their lives," he added.

Rae further said, "We are thankful to states of Bihar, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh that they have arranged bus facility. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, India will give full support in the reconstruction work which will be done by Nepal Government," Rae added.

Rae informed that 30 doctors had been sent to treat the victims.

Meanwhile, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh has arranged to send free insulin to diabetic patients in earthquake-hit Nepal.

At least 4,352 bodies have been recovered so far from the debris in Nepal.

There is an acute shortage of food, water, electricity and medicines in Nepal. Locals in Kathmandu and other adjoining areas are spending their nights out in the open over fears of another earthquake.

Hundreds of people are still trapped under tonnes of rubble in Kathmandu and some of the worst-affected remote mountainous areas in the quake-ravaged country.

India is doing everything possible to maximise the relief and minimise the tribulations faced by the neighbouring nation.

More than 700 disaster relief experts drawn from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed by India, which has mounted massive relief operations as part of 'Operation Maitri'. Relief material weighing 8,200 kilograms were distributed by choppers and the Indian Air Force.

India has also sent a team of senior officials from the ministries of Home, Defence, External Affairs and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to co-ordinate the rescue and relief operations. The team is monitoring the evacuation of stranded Indians in Nepal. Nearly 5,400 Indians have been brought back so far.

The calamity, one of the worst in over 80 years in Nepal, was followed by 55 aftershocks.