India provides aid to Nepal

(Vatican Radio) The Indian Air Force has been sending flights laden with tons of rescue material to Nepal, returning with hundreds of Indians, tourists and business people, stranded there because of the massive earthquake. Meanwhile, India has also been hit by aftershocks that have been felt across the north of the country.

Listen to Carol Andrade's report Mumbai

The figures for the dead and injured in the Nepal earthquake may fluctuate according to whom you are listening, but all of them show one grim  common aspect – they are climbing. On Saturday, when the first news began to come in of a temblor that measured 7.9 on the Richter scale  somewhere to the east of Kathmandu near the China border, and 80 km from the capital,  they were less than 100. Since then,  no less than 24 aftershocks have taken place, causing more damage and taking a higher toll on life.

The aftershock 24 hours later on Sunday measured 6.6 on the scale, causing yet another wave of death, damage and injury.

The worst casualties have taken place in the mountain villages closer to the epicenter . The avalanches in the Himalayas as a result of the earthquake, at the time when the Everest climbing season has already taken off, have written their own tales of horror. This is Nepal’s darkest time.

Neighbouring India has also been hit for the aftershocks have been felt across the north, in West Bengal, in Bihar, where more than 50 deaths were reported, and in UP, still recovering from the floods and avalanches in 2013. Gujarat suffered grievously from its own earthquake in 2002. And In complete empathy, from Saturday evening, the Indian Air Force has been sending flights laden with tons of rescue material to Nepal, returning with hundreds of Indians, tourists and business people, stranded there. Today, relief operations temporarily suspended ten flights, including civilian planes, because Nepal’s Tribhuvan airport was shut down. These have now been resumed.

In his monthly radio talk a few hours ago to the nation titled ‘Mann ki Baat’, meaning ‘On MY Mind’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised India would wipe the tears from the eyes of the people of Nepal. He has set up a special office to co-ordinate relief efforts and is monitoring developments personally.

Geologists have said that people should be prepared for more aftershocks in the next 24 hours. Plus there is the prospect of heavy rainstorms. Nepal, for whom this is the worst earthquake in 80 years, is going to need all the help it can get to pull itself out of the debris of this natural disaster.