DHAKA: Powerful aftershocks rocked Nepal Sunday, panicking survivors of a quake that killed more than 2,300 and triggering fresh avalanches at Everest base camp, as rescuers dug through rubble in the devastated capital Kathmandu.

Terrified residents, many forced to camp out in the capital after Saturday’s quake reduced buildings to rubble, were jolted by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock that compounded the worst disaster to hit the impoverished Himalayan nation in more than 80 years.

At overstretched hospitals, where medics were also treating patients in hastily erected tents, staff were forced to flee from buildings for fear of further collapses.

‘Electricity has been cut off, communication systems are congested and hospital are crowded and are running out of room for storing dead bodies,’ Oxfam Australia chief executive Helen Szoke told the media, reports The Straits Times.

The latest quake struck northeast of Kathmandu near the border with China at a depth of 10km, the US Geological Survey said. The agency said the tremor was 6.7 magnitude, less than the 7.8-magnitude quake that struck the region on Saturday.

Home ministry spokesman Laxmi Prasad Dhakal said the number known to have died in Nepal had risen to 2,263 while 5,838 people had been injured.

Officials in India said the toll there now stood at 60, while Chinese state media said 17 people had been killed in the Tibet region.

‘We have deployed all our resources for search and rescues,’ Bam told the media.

‘Helicopters have been sent to remote areas. We are sifting through the rubble where buildings have collapsed to see if we can find anyone.’

** Nepal earthquake toll exceeds 2,000

BDST: 1928 HRS, APR 26, 2015
RR