Nepal’s international airport briefly shut down yesterday when a powerful aftershock hit the capital, Kathmandu, forcing airplanes to turn around mid-flight, officials and reports said.
Indian budget airline SpiceJet said it was forced to recall its plane to New Delhi after the air traffic control center at Kathmandu’s airport was evacuated when the magnitude 6.7 aftershock struck.
“Our flight was asked to return from near the Indo-Nepal border as the [air traffic control] in Kathmandu was evacuated following a strong aftershock around noon,” SpiceJet spokesman Ajay Jasra said.
Photo: AFP
Tribhuvan International Airport general manager Birendra Prasad Shrestha said the runway had reopened after about an hour.
“The airport is open and functioning. We had closed the runway for an hour after the quake this afternoon, but we have resumed services,” Shrestha said.
Meanwhile, Asian countries were scrambling to locate thousands of their nationals stranded in Nepal. China said it is chartering flights to pick up 683 tourists who were in the country when the earthquake hit on Saturday.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that of the 177 Taiwanese in Nepal, 149 have contacted the ministry and reported that they are safe. It said that it did not yet know the whereabouts of the other 28.
Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop said her government had contacted more than 200 of the 549 Australians in the South Asian nation, while New Zealand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully said more than 110 nationals had been accounted for.
“While there are reports of extensive loss of life, at this point there are no reports of Australian deaths,” Bishop said in a statement, adding that staff from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade were traveling to Nepal to help locate other citizens.
Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it has set up a liaison office to help locate the 1,100 of its nationals who were staying in Nepal when the quake hit, Jiji news agency reported.
The powerful aftershock made buildings sway and sent panicked Kathmandu residents running into the streets.
The cawing of crows mixed with terrified screams as the aftershock pummeled the capital city early yesterday afternoon.
At magnitude 6.7, it was strong enough to feel like an another earthquake, and came as planeloads of supplies, doctors and relief workers from neighboring countries were arriving.
“The aftershocks keep coming ... so people don’t know what to expect,” said Sanjay Karki, Nepal head for global aid agency Mercy Corps. “All the open spaces in Kathmandu are packed with people who are camping outdoors. When the aftershocks come, you cannot imagine the fear. You can hear women and children crying.”
Outside of the oldest neighborhoods, many in Kathmandu were surprised by how few modern structures — the city is largely a collection of small, poorly constructed brick apartment buildings — collapsed in the quake.
While aid workers said that many buildings could have sustained serious structural damage, it was also clear that the death toll would have been far higher had more buildings caved in.
Aid workers also said that the situation could be far worse near the epicenter.
The US Geological Survey said the quake was centered near Lamjung, about 80km northwest of Kathmandu, in the Gorkha District.
Roads to that area were blocked by landslides, hindering rescue teams, head district official Prakash Subedi said.
Teams were trekking through mountain trails to reach remote villages, and helicopters would also be deployed, he said by telephone.
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