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 Nepal exempted tarpaulins and tents from import taxes on Friday,
but U.N. Resident Representative Jamie McGoldrick told Reuters the
government had to loosen customs restrictions further to deal with
the increasing flow of relief material.
"They should not be using peacetime customs methodology," he said.
Material was piling up at the Kathmandu airport instead of being
ferried out to victims, McGoldrick said.
There was no immediate response from the government but Finance
Minister Ram Sharan Mahat had appealed to international donors on
Friday to send tents, tarpaulins and basic food supplies, saying
some of the items received were of no use.
"We have received things like tuna fish and mayonnaise. What good
are those things for us? We need grains, salt and sugar," he told
reporters.
U.S. military aircraft and personnel were to arrive in Kathmandu on
Saturday to help in relief operations. One of their tasks would be
to deal with the growing piles of aid material.
Brigadier General Paul Kennedy of the U.S. Marine Corps told Reuters
six military aircraft, including two helicopters, were to arrive,
accompanied by 100 Marines and lifting equipment, under an agreement
reached with Nepal’s government earlier in the week.
"What you don't want to do is build up a mountain of supplies",
blocking space for planes or more supplies, Kennedy said.
There were other bottlenecks besides customs.
Nepali government officials have said efforts to step up the pace of
delivery of relief material to remote areas were frustrated by a
shortage of supply trucks and drivers, many of whom had returned to
their villages to help their families.
"Our granaries are full and we have ample food stock, but we are not
able to transport supplies at a faster pace," said Shrimani Raj
Khanal, a manager at the Nepal Food Corp.
Army helicopters have air-dropped instant noodles and biscuits to
remote communities but people need rice and other ingredients to
cook a proper meal, he said.
The government said the death toll from last Saturday's 7.8
magnitude earthquake had reached 6,621, and that more than 14,000
people were injured.
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SNIFFER DOGS
In Kathmandu, teams with sniffer dogs were moving slowly through
ruined buildings to locate bodies still buried in the rubble a week
after the disaster. Elsewhere, volunteers were stacking up bricks
recovered from the debris to begin the slow process of
reconstruction.
Many Nepalis have been sleeping in the open since the quake, with
survivors afraid to return to their homes because of powerful
aftershocks. Tents had been pitched in Kathmandu's main sports
stadium and on its only golf course.
According to the United Nations, 600,000 houses have been destroyed
or damaged.
The United Nations said 8 million of Nepal's 28 million people were
affected, with at least 2 million needing tents, water, food and
medicines over the next three months.
The worry now is how to prevent the outbreak of disease.
"Hospitals are overflowing, water is scarce, bodies are still buried
under the rubble and people are still sleeping in the open," Rownak
Khan, UNICEF's deputy representative in Nepal, said in a statement.
"This is a perfect breeding ground for diseases."
(Additional reporting by Ross Adkin; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan;
Editing by Paul Tait)
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