Death toll soars with thousands more hurt

THE horrendous death toll from the Nepal earthquake threatens to reach more than 3500 as rescue workers continue to frantically search flattened buildings for survivors and hundreds more bodies are uncovered beneath debris.

“The death toll has reached 3218 and over 6500 are injured,” Nepal’s disaster management head Rameshwor Dangal said yesterday.

But many areas outside the capital Kathmandu are yet to be reached and it is feared entire villages dotting the foot of the Himalayas may have been wiped out.

Tectonic experts say the force of Saturday’s 7.8 magnitude quake has shifted Kathmandu three metres.

Hospitals and emergency clinics across the nation of 26 million are struggling to treat thousands of injured people while morgues are overwhelmed and a lack of clean water supplies and sanitation threatens a secondary disaster.

More than 30,000 people are in makeshift shelters at 16 government camps.

Cheers rang out as survivors were unearthed from collapsed buildings in the city but more often than not search teams retrieved bodies.

Air support is being used at remote climbing destinations, including Mount Everest.

Dozens of victims are reported to have been killed in neighbouring China and India.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the Government has confirmed the safety of more than 850 Australians in Nepal but fears were held for one Australian known to be at Everest base camp and potentially an Australian- Indian national from Melbourne.

After shocks have hampered early efforts in the relief and rescue operation.