Aftershocks Terrify Survivors Of Quake That Killed 2,500

Rescue workers remove debris as they search for victims of earthquake in Bhaktapur near Kathmandu, Nepal, on Sunday. A strong magnitude earthquake shook Nepal’s capital and the densely populated Kathmandu Valley before noon Saturday, causing extensive damage with toppled walls and collapsed buildings, officials said. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) By Binaj Gurubacharya and Katy Daigle Associated Press KATHMANDU, Nepal – Shell-shocked and sleeping in the streets, tens of thousands of Nepalese braced against terrifying aftershocks Sunday while digging for survivors in the devastation wrought a day earlier by a massive earthquake that ripped across this Himalayan nation and killed more than 2,500 people. Acrid, white smoke rose above the nation’s most revered Hindu temple, where dozens of bodies were being cremated at any given time. Aid groups received the first word from remote mountain villages – reports that suggested many communities perched on mountainsides were devastated or struggling to cope. Landslides hindered rescue teams that tried to use mountain trails to reach those in need, said Prakash Subedi, chief district official in the Gorkha region, where the quake was centered. “Villages like this are routinely affected by landslides, and it’s not uncommon for entire villages of 200, 300, up to 1,000 people to be completely buried by rock falls,” said Matt Darvas, a member of the aid group World Vision.