Indian national Santosh (second left) is met by relatives after being evacuated following an earthquake in Nepal at the railway station in Amritsar yesterday.
IANS/New Delhi
People should not believe rumours about earthquake that are being spread through social media and messages, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said yesterday..
“There are messages coming on social media that at 9pm earthquake would come, or at 8pm earthquake would come,” Prasad said in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament.
“Such rumours should be ignored. There is no basis to it, and if there is some authentic information, the government will act on it,” he said.
The government expressed condolences over the deaths in the devastating earthquake in Nepal that has also affected parts of India, and said it was standing by its own people as well as its neighbour in their hour of crisis.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh promised “every possible help” for the quake victims.
“We condole the loss of lives here in India and Nepal. The people of Nepal are part of our family. I want to assure that India is with its people and with the people of Nepal in this hour of crisis,” he said in the Lok Sabha, the lower house.
Members of the Lok Sabha decided to donate a month’s salary for the relief work in Nepal.
Meanwhile, thousands of Indians have descended on Nepal’s international airport in Kathmandu in a desperate attempt to go home.
Amid continuing aftershocks and fearing further quakes, the mass of Indians are waiting to board Indian Air Force (IAF) or civilian aircraft.
IAF planes ferrying relief material to Nepal have so far flown back nearly 2,000 Indians. Officials in New Delhi say the evacuation will continue.
Private Indian carriers have also started flying out people from Nepal.
Indians also thronged Kalanki, another busy outgoing point in Kathmandu to return home by land route.
Twenty-eight buses from Uttrakhand are expected in Kathmandu and other cities of Nepal to evacuate the Indians.
The Indian embassy has told Indians to remain calm. It has also promised financial assistance if they run short of money.
In matters of evacuation, priority is being given to the injured, the elderly, children and women, the embassy said.
Indian rescue teams have transported 47 Nepalese casualties and ferried another 230 Nepalese besides distributing 400 tonnes of relief material.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has assured the Kerala government that around 250 Keralites stranded in Nepal would be brought back, a minister said.
Kerala Minister for Diaspora K C Joseph along with parliament members from the state - including Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson P J Kurien - met Swaraj in the capital.
“We have been able to understand that there are around 250 Keralites who are still in Nepal, while 115 of them are now travelling by road to Gorakhpur (in Uttar Pradesh) and 47 have already reached Delhi,” Joseph said in New Delhi.
“The minister has promised us that all efforts will be made to bring back our people from Nepal. The weather conditions, however, at times become bad and as a result aircraft are unable to land there,” he said.
40 Indians trapped at Everest camps
At least 40 Indian mountaineers remained trapped yesterday at Everest Camp I and II, cut off from the Base Camp following avalanches triggered by the massive earthquake two days ago, officials said. Top Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) officials said the climbers were safe and authorities were considering air rescue operations to evacuate them. “Around 40 people are still stuck in Camp I (19,500ft) and Camp II (21,000ft). No Indians are at Camp III (23,500ft) and IV (26,300ft). However, the main thing is that there are no Indian casualties and no reports of any Indians missing,” IMF secretary H K Kutty said. Three teams from India, accredited to the IMF and attempting the world’s highest peak, were trapped on the Everest slopes following the avalanches. Several other teams, which were making their respective attempts in individual capacity, were also affected.
