Aid is slow to reach quake-hit villages

Associated Press

PAUWATHOK, Nepal

At the entrance of this destroyed mountain village, a wooden sign stands, cobbled together from debris of homes flattened by Nepal’s devastating earthquake. Its message: “WE NEED HELP. PLEASE HELP.”

A steep winding road leads up to the ruins of the small village of Pauwathok, perched on a ridge about 3,600 feet above sea level. It’s just 30 miles east of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital. But villagers say not one government official, not one soldier has visited since the massive quake struck a week ago, underscoring just how unprepared and overwhelmed Nepal’s government has been.

Early Saturday, a convoy of covered trucks approached Pauwathok. The trucks apparently were transporting aid and escorted by Nepalese police carrying automatic weapons. Hungry residents ran toward the road.

The trucks were not stopping.

“Are we invisible to you?!” a voice among the crowd screamed as the trucks rode slowly up a hill and out of sight.

One week after the strongest tremor to hit impoverished Nepal in eight decades, aid has been slow in reaching those who need it most. In many places it has not come at all.

U.N. humanitarian officials said Saturday they are increasingly worried about the spread of disease. They said more helicopters are needed to reach isolated mountain villages such as Pauwathok, which were hard to access even before the quake.

The true extent of the damage from the magnitude-7.8 earthquake is still unknown as reports keep filtering in from remote areas, some of which remain entirely cut off. The U.N. has estimated the quake affected 8.1 million people — more than a quarter of Nepal’s 28 million people. The government’s latest number is 7,040 dead, with little hope of finding survivors.