Nepal earthquake: Rescuers struggle to reach remote villages

Powerful earthquake hits Nepal International aid has started to flow to Nepal to assist with the aftermath of a weekend earthquake, as the death toll from the disaster rose to more than 3,200 - a figure expected to rise as assessments are made of the scale of devastation outside of the capital, Kathmandu.

Aid groups received the first word from remote mountain villages, with reports suggesting many communities perched on mountainsides were devastated or struggling to cope.

Nepali authorities had struggled on Sunday to reach remote mountainous villages hit by the earthquake and to evacuate foreign climbers, with their Nepali Sherpas, trapped on Mount Everest, where a massive avalanche triggered by the quake killed 22 people.

Indian air force helicopters carried Nepali soldiers on numerous reconnaissance missions in the worst-affected mountainous areas to assess the damage and laid plans to distribute relief supplies to the stranded survivors.

"The plan is to drop relief supplies in the worst-affected valleys in case landing is not possible," Sitanshu Kar, a spokesman for India's ministry of defence, tweeted on Sunday afternoon.

However, efforts to send helicopters to rescue traumatised Everest climbers, who described the avalanche as akin to a "tsunami of ice", were hampered by further avalanches caused by aftershocks on Sunday. Among those killed on Everest was Dan Fredinburg, a Google executive.

Residents of Kathmandu, many of whom were too fearful to return to their quake-damaged homes, were also lashed by torrential rain on Sunday night.

The magnitude 7.8 earthquake, the worst in the country in 80 years, happened about 80km from the capital Kathmandu close to the tourist town of Pokhara.

The United Nations Development Programme has estimated more than 40 per cent of Nepal was affected by the quake and subsequent aftershocks. About 6.6m people are thought to live in the affected area. The largest aftershock, which hit on Sunday afternoon with 6.7 magnitude, sparking renewed panic and prompting Kathmandu's airport to close again.

The UN has warned that Nepal, which has suffered from years of civil conflict and political turmoil and is heavily dependent on tourism for its economy, will require massive international aid, though there is no accurate estimate yet of the damage.

As it tries to cope with the immediate needs for rescue and relief, Nepal has appealed to the international community for extensive international help, including search-and-rescue teams, medical teams, heavy equipment to clear rubble, and helicopters for transport and access to blocked areas.

The US has said it is sending disaster relief teams, and humanitarian aid, while the UN is chartering an 80-tonne cargo plane filled with relief supplies to Kathmandu from Dubai on Tuesday.

India's military has been ferrying relief supplies to the country since shortly after the disaster, and also sent more than 300 disaster relief personnel to aid in the search and rescue, while an Indian army team on Everest has also aided in some evacuations.

"India will do its best to wipe the tears of every Nepali, hold their hands and stand with them," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on national radio on Sunday.

For its part, China has sent a 62-member search-and-rescue team, along with dogs, to help locate and rescue quake survivors who may still be alive but trapped in the rubble.

International aid agencies, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, Save the Children, Oxfam and Unicef are appealing for public donations to buy emergency supplies for survivors, who are said to need everything from clean drinking water to food to medical care.

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