Four days after a massive quake struck Nepal, the death toll from the disaster has passed the 5,000 mark.
But it will still take time for the food and other supplies to reach survivors in remote communities who have been cut off by landslides, warned said Geoff Pinnock, a World Food Program emergencies officer.
Shelter, fuel, food, medicine, power, workers, news — Nepal's earthquake-hit capital was short on everything as its people searched for lost loved ones, sorted through rubble for their belongings and struggled to provide for their families' needs
The repercussions of the deadly earthquake are freighting. While on one side people are fighting for survival, on the other people are being pushed into a new crisis by hoarders and black marketers.
Retailers, wholesalers, taxi owners, rickshaw pullers, small hoteliers — everyone's charging a ransom; no one seems to be in a position to rein them in.
As per reports published in Times of India, the Nestle packet of powdered milk that has Rs 212 printed as MRP was available in market around Rs 400 with a fresh pasted sticker over it.
The home ministries threatened "strong" action against those fleecing, "creating artificial shortage". But on the ground there's no respite.
From vegetable to meat, everything is having sky high prices. People thronging shops for biscuits, bottled water, noodles and chiwda, return home empty-handed, complained a housewife.
Retailers, on their part, said the fault lay with distributors and wholesalers, who weren't releasing adequate amounts of essentials. The big players, in turn, say supply lines had choked.
The earthquake in Nepal has impacted eight million people in 39 districts, of which over two million live in 11 most severely affected districts.
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