Search and rescue efforts after the earthquake in Nepal wrapped up on Sunday as the focus shifted to providing relief to survivors waiting for food and shelter, officials said 36 hours after the disaster struck.
At least 157 people were killed in isolated western districts of the Himalayan country when the 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck late Friday.
Many survivors spent the night under the open sky, their mud houses reduced to piles of rubble.
Several people died in Nalgad village in the worst-hit Jajarkot district, where Mahesh Chanare prepared to cremate his father-in-law on Sunday.
“The rest of my family is safe,” the 34-year-old plumber told AFP.
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“But the houses have buried everything with them, there is hardly anything to eat,” he added.
“No relief material has arrived. The people here are in desperate need of food and tents.”
A total of 105 people died in Jajarkot and another 52 in neighboring Rukum district, officials said, with more than 100 injured and search and rescue operations complete.
“We are in touch with all areas and rescue operations are complete,” said provincial police spokesman Gopal Chandra Bhattarai.
“But we are still on alert as this is a remote area and there may be some isolated areas that have not been leaked.”
Harish Chandra Sharma, Jajarkot district official, said the focus is now on providing relief to the victims.
“It has been a difficult night and we are trying to bring relief materials to those affected by the earthquake,” Sharma said.
“Some have been distributed, but we need to reach all areas.”
On Friday, locals frantically dug through the rubble in the dark to pull survivors from the rubble of collapsed houses and buildings as others ducked outside for safety.
The quake was felt as far away as India’s capital New Delhi, nearly 500 kilometers (310 miles) from the epicenter.
Security forces were deployed on foot and in helicopters to assist in search and rescue operations.
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Nepal is located on a large geological fault where the Indian tectonic plate is thrust into the Eurasian plate, forming the Himalayas, and earthquakes are a frequent occurrence.
Nearly 9,000 people died and more than 22,000 were injured in 2015 when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, destroying more than half a million homes.
Six people died last November when a magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck Doti district, near Jajarkot.
Friday’s quake was followed several hours later by an aftershock in the same area measuring 4.0 on the Richter scale, the US Geological Survey said.
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