FOUR days after a devastating earthquake struck Nepal, concern remains for the safety of the survivors who are yet to receive any humanitarian assistance.
The Irish international aid charity GOAL has sent local teams to rush emergency supplies to some of the worst affected regions around the capital Kathmandu following Saturday’s tragedy.
Between eighty and ninety percent of towns and villages in remote areas of the country have been destroyed, while the death toll now stands at more than 5,000, with 10,000 people injured.
The number of deaths is expected to rise to 10,000 once rescue teams reach more remote regions.
GOAL’s Emergency Co-ordinator Darren Hanniffy said: “GOAL is now moving essential provisions such as emergency relief kits, shelter materials and hygiene kits into these areas as rapidly as possible.”
“These villages are extremely difficult to access and spread across a vast geographical landscape so logistics and distribution will be our biggest challenge.
“We are drawing on the assets of GOAL’s operation in India to circumnavigate the log-jam in Kathmandu by bringing supplies over the border from India and into these areas."
He added: “We need to reach these people as quickly as possible. While the situation in Kathmandu remains extremely serious, people there are currently being reached with aid; the same cannot be said for those stranded in outlying villages.”
The UN estimates that as many as eight million of Nepal’s 28 million population have had their lives disrupted by the earthquake.
Founded in Dublin in 1977, GOAL responds to humanitarian disasters and is currently operational in 15 countries, including India, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Those who wish to donate to GOAL’s Nepal Earthquake relief effort can do so by visiting the GOAL website on www.goalglobal.org
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