The Nepal earthquake death toll has risen to more than 3,600
REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar
Nepal's police said Monday that at least 3,617 people have been confirmed killed in Saturday's magnitude 7.8 earthquake, including 1,302 in the Kathmandu Valley alone.
In addition, 6,515 people were injured nationwide, the police department said in a tweet.
So far 18 people have also been confirmed dead in an avalanche that swept through the Mount Everest base camp in the wake of the earthquake. Another 61 people were killed in neighboring India.
The earthquake was Nepal's worst in 80 years. The South Asian country's worst recorded earthquake was in 1934. It measured 8.0 and all but destroyed the cities of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan.
Many areas were without power and water. The United Nations said hospitals in the Kathmandu Valley were overcrowded, and running out of emergency supplies and space to store corpses.
The quake will likely put a huge strain on the resources of this impoverished country best known for Everest, the highest mountain in the world. The economy of Nepal, a nation of 27.8 million people, relies heavily on tourism, principally trekking and Himalayan mountain climbing.
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