Condolences, relief from global charities

World leaders and global charities offered condolences and emergency aid to Nepal after the earthquake Saturday while grappling to understand the scope of the disaster.

With Internet and cell phone communications spotty, and many roads closed because of damage, the outside world did not yet have a clear picture of what is most needed after the devastating quake.

But it was clear that help is needed — and fast.

“We know the damage is extensive and that access into rural areas will be very, very difficult for everybody,” said Ben Pickering, Save the Children’s humanitarian adviser in Britain.

“Children will be affected in many ways. Physical injuries. Separated from families,” he said. “The priority now is understanding the scale, what the emergency needs are right now and in the coming weeks.”

Charities assembled disaster teams based on the assumption that sanitation, shelter and medical help are urgently required but the most convenient pathway into Nepal — one of the world’s poorest countries — was not available because the international airport in Kathmandu was shut down.

Doctors Without Borders said four teams would leave Sunday for Nepal from Bihar state in India, close to the Nepal border. The organization is also sending in 3,000 kits including medical supplies.

AmeriCares has also sent a team from India and is preparing shipments of medical aid and relief supplies. “We are prepared to help any way that we can,” said AmeriCares President and CEO Michael Nyenhuis. “This is a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to the families suffering.”

Handicap International, which was already established in Nepal with 47 workers, was also offering assistance.

“One of our projects there, because it’s earthquake-prone, is to help hospital staffs, physical therapists and others to anticipate the kind of injury we tend to see after a quake,” said spokeswoman Mica Bevington.

Countries around the globe pledged aid while Pope Francis offered prayers for the victims and those working to save them.