Relief work not effective, says Nepal PM

Nepal's Prime Minister Sushil Koirala admitted on Monday that the relief and rescue efforts following Saturday's deadly earthquake was not "effective".

The "rescue, relief and search operations have not been effective", Koirala told a meeting of political parties here, and urged the ruling and the opposition to work together "in this national crisis".

The post-management of the Saturday quake that has killed and injured thousands was very challenging, the prime minister said.

"This is a big challenge," he said, adding that it was not an everyday crisis.

"The lack of development in institutions has had a severe impact in calamities management so that we could not make it happen as we thought," he said.

The government was receiving requests for food and other items from all over Nepal, he said, admitting to the ineffective response due to lack of logistics.

He said the government was preparing to send out tents, drinking water, medicines, health workers and volunteers to affected areas. He called upon political activists to donate blood.