Nepal scrambles to organise quake relief, many flee capital

A man walks along the collapsed houses after the earthquake in Bhaktapur, Nepal April 27, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

AID TRICKLES IN

In Kathmandu, sick and wounded people were lying out in the open, unable to find beds in the devastated city's hospitals. Surgeons set up an operating theatre inside a tent in the grounds of Kathmandu Medical College.

Across the capital and beyond, exhausted families laid mattresses out on streets and erected tents to shelter from rain. People queued for water dispensed from trucks, while the few stores still open had next to nothing on their shelves.

Some relief supplies began to trickle into the capital. Some portable toilets had been set up and food was being provided by local aid agencies.

A few United Nations vehicles were seen with medical equipment and first aid kits.

The United Nations Children's Fund said nearly one million children in Nepal were severely affected by the quake, and warned of waterborne and infectious diseases.

In the ancient temple town of Bhaktapur, east of Kathmandu, many residents were living in tents in a school compound after centuries old buildings collapsed or developed huge cracks.

"We have become refugees," said Sarga Dhaoubadel, a management student whose ancestors had built her Bhaktapur family home over 400 years ago.

They were subsisting on instant noodles and fruit, she said.

"No one from the government has come to offer us even a glass of water," she said. "Nobody has come to even check our health. We are totally on our own here. All we can hope is that the aftershocks stop and we can try and get back home."