Nepal Earthquake Relief Efforts Failing, Supplies Useless: ‘What Good Are Those Things For Us?’

The death toll from the devastating Nepal earthquake is still climbing, having surpassed 7,000 this weekend. A total of 7,040 people were killed in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake, according to Nepal’s National Emergency Operation Centre. Approximately 14,000 others were injured. 54 of the 7,000 dead were foreigners visiting the country when the earthquake hit.

According to the Associated Press, relief efforts for the Nepal earthquake have been severely lacking. United Nations Resident Representative Jamie McGoldrick reported that relief supplies are getting held up at customs inspections at the Kathmandu airport. McGoldrick claims that the government has to let up on strict security measures in order to allow vital goods and supplies to make it to the Nepal earthquake survivors more quickly.

“They should not be using peacetime customs methodology,” he said.

The government is bogging down the shipments because much of the relief supplies is useless to them. They have required their customs inspectors to check all shipments for Nepal earthquake supplies to ensure that the survivors can actually use them. Complaints of tuna and mayonnaise arriving in Nepal have caused Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat to ask international donors for better goods like waterproof cloth and tents.

“We have received things like tuna fish and mayonnaise. What good are those things for us? We need grains, salt and sugar.”

To make the situation worse, the Nepalese government has failed to increase the speed of supply delivery due to a lack of supply trucks and drivers to operate them, according to the Guardian. Many of the men who would otherwise deliver the goods have hurried back to their home villages to be with their families after the crisis of the Nepal earthquake.

“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 from the Nepal Food Corp.

The solution to the Nepal earthquake supply problem could be helicopters, but there appears to be a shortage of those as well.

“We definitely need more helicopters,” said Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the UN’s World Food Program. “Even seven days in this is still very much considered the early days, because there are people we still haven’t reached. So we need helicopters to reach them.”

According to the BBC, many of the Nepal earthquake survivors are understandably frustrated at the poor relief efforts, especially since some of them require medical attention.

“In many areas people are not getting relief and it is natural that they are unhappy about it,” said Rameshwor Dangal from Nepal’s National Disaster Management Division.

More than 130,000 homes were destroyed in the Nepal earthquake and many of the survivors are in desperate need of shelter from the cold weather and harsh rain.

For more on the Nepal earthquake, read about the miraculous rescue of a four-month-old baby from the rubble.

[Image credit: Getty]