Deadly landslide destroyes villages in Langtang valley in Nepal

Several hours after giving coverage to this on Morning Report Radio NZ has posted something on its website
on the devastating landslide in the  Langtang Valley in Nepal on the border with Tibet, which describes an entire village being destroyed.  No doubt this has been replicated many times.

Of this there is not a sign on Radio NZ's website and I cannot find anything on this from the BBC, so I am providing what I can find.

There has been a lot from international media about Kathmandy and its environs but there has been very little of the fate of these isolated parts of Nepal.

These people who already had very little now have nothing.  It is essential that they receive help and I will be coming back with more on this very soon.

Nepal earthquake 'Worst affected' village of Langtang

BBC

Emergency workers in Nepal continue to face challenges after the devastating earthquake.

Their priority is to reach the country's remote, mountainous villages, feared to have been wiped off the map.

Nepalese village 'wiped out'

Radio NZ,

5 May, 2015

The Nepalese earthquake may have killed more than 300 people in a single village in a popular trekking area.

Nepalis and foreign trekkers were killed in the village of Langtang following the devastating earthquake nine days ago.

A file image of Langtan village, home to 435 people. - Photo: AFP / FILE

The first reporter to reach Langtang in northern Nepal said the village had been razed and bodies were laid out everywhere.

Justin Rowlatt said villagers told him the sky went dark before an avalanche came down.

"You can see the power of the damage that was done, all the trees were knocked down like so many matchsticks."

He said the avalanche collapsed on top of the village and barely any remains of it could be seen.

He said 178 villagers and 150 foreigners may have died in the avalanche.

One survivor, Dindu Lama, told him he had lost family members.

"We have lost everything .... now we have nothing," he said.

Langtan village was one of the most popular trekking destinations in Nepal and home to 435 people.

Fifty-five hotels and guesthouses and the villagers' homes are now buried under a mass of ice and rock.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake is now known to have killed more than 7,000 people and injured more than 10,000.

Deadly Landslide Triggered by 7.8 Earthquake in Nepal Spotted By Satellite

the Weather Channel,

3 May, 2015

A newly obtained satellite image shows a deadly landslide triggered by the massive 7.8 earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25.

Using Landsat satellite imagery from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), NASA released the comparison below which shows the landslide on April 30 near the village of Langtang. The other image in the animation shows the exact same area about a month prior to the earthquake on March 29.

  (NASA/USGS)

According to NASA, the small village of Langtang is located along a popular trekking route in the area. The landslide developed on the mountain slopes north of the village and wiped out the tiny town as it slid downward towards the Langtang River, NASA says.

The Associated Press said on Sunday morning that the remains of 55 people were found this weekend in the Langtang Valley where the landslide occurred. These are the latest deaths to be included in the overall death toll that is now over 7,200

Nepal earthquake rescue teams search for missing trekkers in Himalayas

100 bodies discovered in remote Langtang region of Nepalese Himalayas as death toll from 25 April disaster reaches 7,365

The Guardian

4 May, 2015

Police, soldiers and volunteers have launched a major search operation in the remote Langtang region of the Nepalese Himalayas to look for up to 600 trekkers and support staff who have been missing since an 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit the south Asian country nine days ago.

The death toll in the disaster has reached 7,365, with 14,355 injured. The bodies of about 100 trekkers and villagers were recovered at the biggest village in Langtang, which lies 60km (40 miles) north of Kathmandu and is on a trekking route popular with westerners.

The entire village, which includes 55 guesthouses used by trekkers, was wiped out by the avalanche, officials said. “Volunteers and police personnel are digging through six-foot snow with shovels looking for more bodies,” Gautam Rimal, assistant chief district officer, said.

Uddab Bhattarai, the most senior administrator in the area, said more than 400 people had been killed in Langtang, with at least 250 missing. “We have been doing search and rescue massively but haven’t been able to figure out the exact number of missing,” he said.

The president of Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal, Ramesh Dhamala, said the number of people missing could at least twice as high. “According to the records, 1,350 Nepalese and foreign trekkers entered Langtang, but once the earthquake struck we were unable to find out how many were still there,” he said. “We assume at least 600 foreigners and Nepalese might be missing in the area.”

Langtang, a region of steep gorges and high mountains on the border with Tibet, was hit by massive landslides after the quake. “It seems that entire hillsides sheared away. There were huge avalanches too, a mix of snow and mud,” said a Kathmandu-based trekking operator with long experience of the region.

Tulsi Prasad Gautam, head of the tourism department in Nepal, described the Langtang valley as “completely wiped away”.

In other parts of the Himalayan country, three people were pulled alive from the rubble of their home on Sunday, eight days after the earthquake, while local media reported that a 101-year-old man was found alive on Saturday.

There was continuing confusion over the climbing season on Everest, the world’s highest peak, with conflicting announcements by government officials. Whatever the eventual administrative decision it appears the spring season, which is the most popular with mountaineers, is unlikely to see any attempts on the 29,000ft mountain.

The route that is laid anew each year through the icefall, one of the most dangerous passages though low down the peak, has been largely destroyed and local Sherpa guides who specialise in preparing a path through the jumble of ice blocks and crevasses are reported to have refused to repair it.

The relief operation has been troubled by bureaucratic bottlenecks, logistic difficulties and rough terrain. Aftershocks are also continuing, though bad weather that had grounded helicopters has cleared.

Nine days after the earthquake, Sushil Koirala, the prime minister of Nepal, has made his first visit outside the capital. The 75-year-old politician travelled to Chautara in Sindhupalchowk district, where at least 3,000 people were killed. “We are doing our best in whatever resources we have,” he said, adding that his home had been damaged.

Western aid officials have expressed frustration at infighting within the Nepalese government, which they say is hampering the relief operation.

The chief district officer of Gorkha, Uddhav Timilsina, said 20,000 tarpaulins had been distributed, though more than twice as many were needed. “Landslides in some places have affected our relief distribution and we haven’t been able to reach some of the affected area because of the road conditions,” he said. “We do have scarcity of food.”

A police spokesman, Kamal Singh Bam, said a shortage of tarpaulins was a serious problem.

US military aircraft and personnel arrived in Nepal on Sunday and were due to begin helping ferry relief supplies to stricken areas outside the capital. The US contingent comprised eight aircraft, including one Huey and two C-130s, and 100-120 personnel, spokeswoman Capt Cassandra Gesecki said.

On Sunday, the government restricted the landing of large cargo aircraft at the congested airport to limit damage to the stressed runway. The UN has said 8 million of Nepal’s 28 million people had been affected by the quake, with at least 2 million needing tents, water, food and medicines over the next three months. A survey found that three-quarters of the buildings in Kathmandu had been destroyed or were unsafe.

Thousands of people remain camped out in the city and its surroundings. Many more remote villages are still to be reached, and aid officials fear further fatalities from infected wounds sustained in the quake and among vulnerable sections of the population such as the elderly and the very young.

Here is all the video footage I can find

Amateur video shows landslide and damage after Nepal earthquake

And to see how this amazing part of the world looked before the earthquake

Resilience

The resilience of mountain dwellers of Nepal is extraordinary.

After losing his house to the quake Mr. Dev Narayan Sapkota salvaged what he could and made this new shelter in two days. Hats Off to him for not waiting for any outside support.

Location Gothpani VDC. Kavre.