MSF teams reach Nepal to provide relief

Four teams from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) or Doctors Without Borders have reached Nepal to assess the most urgent medical needs following the weekend's devastating earthquake.

More international staff are expected to reach Nepal over the coming days, MSF said in a statement.

A 17-member team has already carried out an initial assessment of the extent of damage by helicopter.

One team has reached worst-hit Gorkha, 70 km northwest of Kathmandu, after travelling by road from Bihar in India. Three trucks containing essential relief items are on their way to Gorkha.

An 11-member surgical and medical team from Brussels has arrived here with a 'rapid intervention surgical kit' which will enable them to set up a surgical unit.

The team will also travel to the districts of Tanahu, Lamjung and Gorkha to provide support to hospitals, run mobile clinics and distribute relief items such as blankets, hygiene kits and shelters.

A 35-tonne charter plane with an inflatable hospital (56-bed capacity), emergency supplies and drugs has departed from Bordeaux in France, the MSF said.

Thirty tonnes of emergency supplies were dispatched from MSF's supply depot at Ostende in Belgium, and a team of medics and water and sanitation specialists has left Amsterdam for Nepal.

Nearly 4,500 people have been declared dead in Saturday's earthquake in Nepal that measured 7.9 on the Richter scale.