As many as 3,40,000 people have left Kathmandu since Sunday in the wake of the earthquake the day before, the police said. Until 2 p.m. on Wednesday, over 66,000 had left the capital. Just a few are coming into the Kathmandu Valley.
Seeing the rush of people leaving for their villages, the government has pressed school buses into service. The free service prompted more people to leave. The death toll reached 5,027 and the number of injured 7,458 until 5 p.m. Another quake, 4.4 on the Richter scale, hit areas surrounding the capital. According to the US Geological Survey, the epicentre was Nagarkot, 30 km from Kathmandu. The United Nations said more than eight million people, including 50,000 pregnant women, had been affected. The U.N. Resident Coordinator for Nepal, Jamie McGoldrick, appealed for aid to the tune of $41 million to help the needy.
Even as people left in huge numbers, life in the capital was returning to normal.
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