World responds to Nepal quake as death toll climbs

Nepal's Home Ministry said the country's death toll had risen to 4,010 people.

Search and rescue efforts continue in Nepal following a devastating earthquake on the weekend and a number of organizations are responding to bring aid to those who are sorting through the rubble for loved ones and struggling to survive.

The magnitude-7.8 earthquake hit the Gorkha district, just outside the capital city of Kathmandu, on Saturday and left more than 4000 people dead.

Canada immediately committed to contribute $5M to aid efforts and sent a team of disaster assessment specialists to the South Asian country.

On Monday, the federal government announced it would send more relief and said it would match, dollar-for-dollar, all eligible contributions to the Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund until May 25.

The government is also sending supplies, like blankets, tarps and hygiene items, from emergency stockpiles in Mississauga and Dubai.

Foreign Affairs says there are 462 Canadians registered as living in Nepal and consular officials are trying to get into the country to help but say they are having difficulty getting in.

“We have an honourary consul I know has been working on this consistently since this tragedy has taken place, (and) we're making every effort to bring in consular officials as well," said Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson. "They have made two attempts to land at the airport in Kathmandu and on both occasions they have been turned away, but we are determined we are going to get them there."

Prasanna Man Shrestha is the President of the Calgary Nepalese Community Association and has family in Nepal. He found about the quake through a posting on Facebook.

“As soon as I saw the posting, I tried to call to my home but I was not able to contact, until like about three and a half hours, so I was so panicked, you know trying to contact,” he said.

He says his family is safe but their home is destroyed so they are living in a tent outside.

“My parents are 70 years old so just imagine living at 70 years old with a sanitation problem and food shortage, so it’s a little bit uncomfortable for them but luckily they are safe,” he said.

He says the challenge will be getting into those rural areas outside of Kathmandu.

“Most of the roads are damaged, it’s an infrastructure problem right, even though there is a rescue team that are rescuing people over there, to reach the real people, it might be the big challenge,” he said. “There are a lot of rural areas, in the seven to nine district, which has not got attention from the media.”

Zachary Barton is from Calgary and runs a non-profit organization in Nepal called The Kamala Foundation that helps other organizations to be food secure and sustainable.

He has spent the last twelve years in Nepal and says he was in Jhapa, on the far southeast side of the country, when the earthquake happened.

“I was in a vehicle when the earthquake hit and the roads in Nepal can be quite crazy and the conditions can be quite crazy and so we were in a van heading to our sustainable children’s home, which is one of our projects there, and we were on the road and our vehicle was going side-to-side anyways, because that’s just how it is on the roads here, so we didn’t actually know that there was an earthquake until we looked around us and saw people running out of their houses and then we started to clue in that there was something going on,” said Barton.

He says he was in an earthquake in the same area about three years ago so knew what was happening.

“Your heart starts beating, your adrenaline starts pumping and you start thinking about buildings crashing down on you and stuff like that,” he said. “In Nepal we don’t have the best built houses in the world, for sure, and I think everybody knows that, even the people here and when they do build houses, they’re quite packed in, close together and so everybody’s reaction is, get out of the house as fast as possible, try and get to an open area so it’s just the rush of people trying to get wherever they can be to be safe.”

He says the area is prone to quakes so people know what to do but there is still no electricity in many parts of the capital and very little fuel and food left.

“Food is almost non-existent right now,” said Barton. “Most people are still not confident enough to go back into their houses to sleep so it pretty much looks like a shanty town all around the place right now, everybody’s outside sleeping in make-shift tents right now.”

He says he has seen aid arriving at the airport and also says the challenge will be in getting aid to those who need it most.

“Probably the most urgent matter right now is getting outside of Kathmandu to the million people living in the earthquake zone who are out in the village side who have no access to anything whatsoever and are in extremely desperate conditions,” he said.

A number of aid organizations have stepped up to help out and already have people on the ground handing out supplies and searching for survivors.

Canadians are eager to help out and a number of local charities are putting together aid packages to send to the thousands of people who were displaced.

Most organizations are operating in good faith but the Better Business Bureau says sadly there are scammers out there, hiding behind fake charities, who are looking to take advantage of the tragedy.

The BBB says people should thoroughly check out charities they are considering, to make sure their donation is actually reaching those who need it.

"It's easy to quickly hand over your money to a charity when such a devastating natural disaster occurs like the Nepal earthquake that has left thousands of people in desperate need of the most basic essentials of life," said Sandra Crozier-McKee, president and CEO of BBB Serving Southern Alberta and East Kootenay. "Scammers are hiding behind realistic, but phony charity websites and names. They prey on people's generosity and desire to help those in need and count on people to overlook the warning signs of charity fraud."

Click HERE for BBB Wise Giving Alliance charity tips.

Bell Canada announced a $100,000 donation to the Red Cross on Monday and the communications company is urging Canadians to use their mobile devices to support relief efforts.

Those who want to help can text a donation to the following charities through the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada:

The disaster is the worst earthquake to hit the South Asian nation in more than 80 years and was also felt across parts of India, Bangladesh, Tibet and Pakistan.