Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed immediate dispatch of relief and rescue teams, including medical teams to Nepal, as well as to affected areas in India.
He also directed that proper arrangements be made for rendering assistance in evacuation of stranded tourists.
The directions came after Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Saturday afternoon to review the situation following the major earthquake in Nepal.
The Union Government's Crisis Management Committee will be meeting later again today.
The meeting was attended by Ministers Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Principal Secretary Nripendra Misra, Additional Principal Secretary P.K. Mishra, and senior officials from the government, India Meteorological Department and the National Disaster Resposne Force (NDRF).
Earlier, the Prime Minister spoke to the President and Prime Minister of Nepal, and Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh. He assured Nepal of all assistance in dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake.
Casualties in India
Regarding casualties in India, the Home Minister said there were reports of 10-12 casualties in some States. “We are awaiting confirmation”, he added.
Meanwhile, Defence Ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar tweeted that “One C-130J Superhercules aircraft of IAF has just taken off from Hindon with NDRF teams for Kathmandu”. He said after dropping the NDRF team, C-130J will perform an aerial recee to check road communication to Pokhara and return to Hindon.