Nepal says earthquake death toll may reach 10,000

Nepal&#039;s prime minister says the quake death toll could hit 10,000

(Image credit: Omar Havana/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, foreign aid started arriving in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, following Saturday's devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake, and mountaineers said that all stranded climbers high up on Mt. Everest had been rescued by helicopter. But the official death toll from the temblor reached 4,349, with more than 7,000 known injured, and as bad as things are in the capital, they're undoubtedly worse in the villages cut off from aid.

"The government is doing all it can for rescue and relief on a war footing," Prime Minister Sushil Koirala told Reuters. "It is a challenge and a very difficult hour for Nepal." At least 8 million people were affected by the quake, and 1.4 million need food, the United Nations estimated, and the number of confirmed deaths will almost certainly go up, Koirala said. "The death toll could go up to 10,000 because information from remote villages hit by the earthquake is yet to come in."

Nepal's citizens are getting impatient as the government tries to get a grasp on the devastation and reach those remote villages. When it comes to the number of dead and injured and where they are, "right now, what we're hearing from everybody, including our own staff, is that we don't know," Mercy Corps' Jeffrey Shannon tells The New York Times. "As people start to travel these roads, to reach these communities, you run into landslides. They're simply inaccessible, the ones that need the most help.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.