Parched lips in Nepal as toll rises to 4,347

Rescuers, including foreigners, worked feverishly across Nepal as the country grappled with an acute water scarcity and the toll in the devastating earthquake shot up to 4,347, authorities said on Tuesday.

People spent their third uncomfortable night out in the open, worried that an earthquake may strike again. They had to make do with whatever basic essentials they had.

The ministry of home affairs said that among one dozen worst affected districts, capital Kathmandu and Sindhupalchowk top the list with the confirmed deaths of 1,039 and 1,176 people respectively.

Officials said here that the toll is expected to rise in the coming days as search operations are still on in several worst hit sites.

According to the ministry, over 7,500 people were injured and are undergoing treatment in various hospitals.

Many are missing, police said.

At least 10 foreigners including Indians, Chinese, American, French and Australian were killed in the quake, said police.

At least 68 unclaimed deadbodies were kept in various hospitals, said the police.

Various international and national rescue and search teams are active in search and reascue mission.

Capital Kathmandu has started witnessing a shortage of drinking water.

Some hospitals have reported cases of diarrhoea and waste has begun accumulating in various hospitals.

Water scarcity has hit hard in some hospitals already and new cases of diarrhoea has worsened the situation, said Basudev Pandey, chief of communicable diseases at Patan Hospital.

He said that several patients from village areas of Lalitpur distruct, a nearby city of Kathmandu, have started complaining of diarrhoea.

Water scarcity, lack of debris management and waste management have worsen the condition in various hospitals in Kathmandu.

The power outages have crippled ATMs. The few functional ATMs saw long queues of people.

Officials say about 4,000 houses in Kathmandu had been destroyed and around 11,000 had developed cracks. About 7,000 houses were also partially damaged. Kathmandu is home to over four million people.

Doctors have warned of epidemics breaking out, triggering mass movement out of Kathmandu.

(Anil Giri can be contacted at girianil@gmail.com)