Dubai: The Embassy of Nepal on Saturday offered to assist their countrymen in the UAE who have loved ones in Nepal that were affected by Saturday’s earthquake.
A 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit near Kathmandu on Saturday, killing around 820 people (as of 6.30pm UAE time) and destroying centuries-old temples and buildings. The killer quake is believed to be the worst tremor to have hit the country in over 80 years.
Dhananjay Jha, Nepalese ambassador to the UAE, said he and his team are continuously monitoring the situation in Nepal.
“There are still some aftershocks that are being felt as we speak. The death toll has reached almost 500. But it might still go up,” Jha told Gulf News earlier.
“A similar quake happened in 1934 but the epicentre then was in the eastern part of Nepal. Today’s epicentre was to the north of Kathmandu.”
Jha said contacting loved ones in Nepal was a bit of a challenge considering that the quake downed many phone lines and cell sites. But his office is willing to assist any Nepalese expatriate should they need help in locating family members.
“If they on their own do not succeed in contacting their family members, they can come to us for help so we can directly go through official channels and seek help.”
Currently, there are an estimated 300,000 expatriates from Nepal living in working in the UAE. Jha said the majority of them are from towns outside the capital.
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Contact Embassy of Nepal in Abu Dhabi at 02 634 4767.
