The death toll in Nepal from the earthquake
that struck two days ago has risen to
3,726, Nepalese police spokesman Kamal
Singh Bam said Monday.
As the death toll from Nepal's worst
earthquake in decades surged past 3,400 on
Monday, big questions remained about the
scale of the devastation in rural areas.
The destruction in Kathmandu, the capital,
is stark: Revered temples reduced to rubble,
people buried in the wreckage of their
homes, hospitals short on medical supplies
overflowing with patients. Serious damage
is also reported in villages in the
surrounding valley.
But farther out across Nepal's rugged
landscape -- closer to the epicenter of the
7.8 magnitude quake that struck Saturday
-- the situation is worryingly murky.
"Information about remote areas is severely
lacking at this time," said Devendra Singh
Tak, an official with Save the Children in
Kathmandu, noting that roads were blocked
and communications unreliable.
Patchy reports have filtered through of
entire villages leveled by the quake or
engulfed by landslides.
"Some of the initial surveys that we're
hearing of from the zones closer to the
epicenter talk about total or near total
destruction," said Jeremy Konyndyk,
director of the Office of Foreign Disaster
Assistance for USAID.
Tak told CNN that Save the Children and
other aid groups were sending out teams
Monday to more remote areas. The
Nepalese government said it was flying
helicopters to places it couldn't reach by
road.
"That's where one needs to get out and
conduct rescue and relief," Tak said.
The earthquake and its aftershocks have
turned one of the world's most scenic
regions into a panorama of devastation.
"The journey towards my family home in
Sitapaila was a map of quake destruction,
with many houses -- old and new -- torn
apart," wrote freelance journalist Sunir
Pandey .
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