MANY residents of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu tried to leave the city on Tuesday (April 28) amid continuous tremors and after losing their homes in the weekend quake.
People tried to get out of the city by every possible means.
The surging demand has led transport prices to shoot up drastically.
“We are not getting tickets in any vehicles. All the operators say whenever the vehicle moves, we’ll place you in that. They want 2,000 to 2,500 rupees ($20-25),” said Janardhan Jha, a Kathmandu resident. The asking price is nearly three times more than the price of the usual fare.
Bus operators say there is a shortage of vehicles due to the huge demand.
“There’s quite a number of people going out, there are not sufficient vehicles. People are going on their own in whatever sort of vehicles, even trucks and yesterday there were about 35-40,000 people going out and today there are fewer, about 5-10 percent less,” said bus operator Jayesh Maitro.
Many of Kathmandu’s one million residents have slept in the open since the quake, either because their homes were flattened or they were terrified that aftershocks would bring them crashing down.
More than 4,600 people have died in Saturday’s 7.9 magnitude quake. Prime Minister Sushil Koirala told Reuters the death toll could reach 10,000.
(Reuters)
