ACT Alert Nepal Earthquake Emergency Response

An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter Scale struck west of the ancient Nepali capital of Kathmandu, Pokhara, on Saturday 25 April 2015, at 11:41am Nepal local time. It is the most powerful earthquake to hit the region in 81 years. The death toll from the quake has risen to more than 1970 and is rising further, most of them in the Kathmandu Valley. The tremors where felt as far afield as Delhi and Dhaka. The tremors flattened houses, caused huge craters and cracks in roads in Kathmandu, and sent people running out of their offices and homes. Massive damage to property and infrastructure has been reported. Casualties have also been reported in neighbouring countries. There is little information coming from the outlying areas of this mountainous country and helicopters are circling overhead to visually assess the damage. The government of Nepal has appealed to the international community for emergency assistance as the scale of the disaster is beyond the capacities of the national authorities. The devastation is not only confined to some areas of Nepal, almost the entire country has been affected.