By Anugrah Kumar, The Christian Post.
(Photo: Reuters/Stringer) Residents cry as they walk past damaged houses to safer areas, after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal, in Gyirong county of Xigaze Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, April 25, 2015.
At least 2,000 people were found dead as of early Sunday, the day after a 7.9-magnitude earthquake devastated Nepal’s congested national capital of Kathmandu and other areas. International Christian groups were gearing up to respond as tens of thousands spent the night outdoors in cold weather.
The death toll is likely to rise as rescuers were clearing rubble in search of survivors early Sunday after Kathmandu, the city of Pokhara and rural areas in-between were hit by the nation’s worst earthquake in eight decades.
Rescuers dug with their bare hands and bodies piled up in Nepal Sunday, according to Reuters.
Nearly 2,000 bodies had been found, according to estimates, and thousands of others were injured in Nepal.
The quake also triggered a deadly avalanche that buried a part of the base camp for climbers bound for Mount Everest, killing at least 17 people, according to NDTV. Those killed in the avalanche included a Google executive, Dan Fredinburg.
At least 50 people were killed in neighboring India, mostly in eastern and northern parts, 17 in Tibet and at least two in Bangladesh.
Local witnesses described the scene as horrific, saying they saw bodies with heads crushed and people with broken limbs hours after the earthquake Saturday afternoon. It was worse early Sunday.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is also responding. For more information, click here.