NEPALGUNJ, 5 Nov: Even as search and rescue operations continued through Saturday in the mountainous Jajarkot district in western Nepal hit by a powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake on Friday night, authorities shifted scores of injured persons to multiple hospitals in the foothills and expect that some of them may be airlifted to India.
At least 157 people were killed and hundreds of others injured when the Friday night earthquake, the worst since 2015, struck western Nepal’s remote areas, destroying hundreds of houses in the Himalayan country.
The epicentre was in Jajarkot district, about 500 kms northwest of Kathmandu. Jajarkot and Rukum districts of western Nepal were the worst hit by the quake.
Nepalgunj, which is at the Himalayan foothills, close to the India-Nepal border, is nearer to the quake-affected region as compared to Kathmandu.
Soon after the quake, the Nepal Army mobilised its personnel to carry out rescue works and through Saturday Army personnel and other rescue workers dug through the rubble of collapsed houses to find survivors.
Pulling men, women, and children from under the rubble, rescuing those trapped in dilapidated houses, and then using proper or makeshift stretchers, the rescuers carried the injured. In many cases, Army personnel were seen carrying the elderly on their backs.
Around 30 injured persons, including children, were brought to Bheri Hospital here from the quake-affected areas. This is the nearest big hospital to Jajarkot. Scores of near and dear ones of the injured made a beeline outside the emergency department of the Bheri hospital.
A round of the emergency and general wards of the hospital by PTI showed that several injured had fractured hands or legs.
The doctors and the healthcare professionals had a hectic time attending to the injured brought to the hospital as the emergency ward ran full of injured.
“Of those brought in here, one elderly person succumbed and two are critical,” nodal officer Dr Vipin Acharya told PTI.
The doctors are on continuous alert as more injured persons are expected. “There are many kids also who were injured and are under treatment. We have a team of specialist doctors here that is taking care of these patients. We are on standby as some more injured people can be brought here,” he said.
Meanwhile, Prashant Bishta, the local mayor, who was also present at the hospital, said that his team had reached here to help the families and relatives of those injured in the earthquake.
The mayor said also that some of the injured were referred to Surkhet. “The quake affected a whole lot of remote villages. It is difficult to reach here so soon, and hence we are expecting more injured may be brought here tomorrow. Our local administration is helping the hospital to deal with the situation and help the injured,” he said.
“As and when we get more people, some may be referred to Kathmandu and some even to Lucknow (in India), so that just one hospital is not overloaded with patients. We are planning to airlift them,” he said.
The Nepal government airlifted several injured as the quake-affected remote mountain area is hard to reach by road. In fact, several injured were sent over to Kathmandu in the aircraft in which Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal travelled back to the capital after his visit to the quake-hit region on Saturday morning.
Nepalese media reported that seven injured people from Chaurjahari were transported to Kathmandu by air and are now under treatment at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital.
National Academy of Medical Sciences Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Bhupendra Kumar Basnet said that the emergency, operation theatre, and ICU have been kept ready at Bir Hospital and at the National Trauma Centre.
The Kathmandu Post reported that the National Human Rights Commission has appealed to one and all to rescue those injured in the Jajarkot earthquake and provide them with free and effective treatment.
“The commission urges all the sides concerned, including the government and political parties, to provide free and effective treatment to those injured in the earthquake and engage in rescue and relief operations,” the prominent daily quoted Tikaram Pokharel, spokesperson of the commission, as saying in a statement. (PTI)