Nepal earthquake: Humanitarian aid is piling up unused at Kathmandu airport because of import restrictions, UN warns

Nepal's only international airport has stopped large relief planes from landing because its sole runway is being damaged by the weight of large aircraft

International aid continues to pour into Nepal to help victims of the earthquake but import restrictions are delaying its onward journey (AFP)

Nepal’s government has been urged by the United Nations to relax import restrictions that are hampering the delivery of international humanitarian supplies to earthquake victims struggling to find basic food and shelter.

In pointed remarks that underscore growing concern over the slow pace of relief to survivors of the earthquake that struck the Himalayan country nine days ago,

The UN’s humanitarian chief, Baroness Valerie Amos, reminded Nepal’s Prime Minister, Sushil Koirala, that he had signed a 2007 agreement to allow simpler and faster customs clearance for relief aid in the event of a disaster.

“He has undertaken to ensure that happens, so I hope that from now we will see an improvement in those administrative issues,” she said. “I am also conscious of the urgent need to provide emergency shelter and basic goods and services to people affected as the monsoon season rapidly approaches. So many people have lost everything.”

The country lifted import taxes on tarpaulins and tents at the end of last week but consignments of aid are still piling up at Kathmandu airport, waiting to be taken to affected towns and villages, at the end of last week but Home Ministry spokesman Laxmi Prasad Dhakal insisted that all goods arriving from abroad still had to be inspected. “This is something we need to do,” he said.

Rameshwor Dangal, of Nepal’s National Disaster Management Division, acknowledged that people were waiting to receive emergency supplies or be airlifted to safety. “In many areas people are not getting relief and it is natural that they are unhappy about it. The situation needs to improve,” he said.

But in another blow to humanitarian efforts, the country’s only international airport has stopped large relief planes from landing because its sole runway is being damaged by the weight of large aircraft.

Medium and small jets will still be allowed to land, but the airport has room for nine on the tarmac at any one time, creating a further bottleneck in supply. The airport’s manager, Birendra Shrestha, said: “The runway was built to handle only medium-sized jets and not the large military and cargo planes that have been arriving since the quake.”

The death toll was officially declared to have reached 7,057 yesterday and a government minister warned that it was expected to climb “much higher”. Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat stressed: “There are still villages where we know that all houses have been destroyed, but which we have not yet been able to reach.”

The successful rescue on Sunday of Funchu Tamang, a 101-year-old man pulled alive from the rubble of his house, and of three women trapped beneath the rubble of their homes, may be among the last as government officials warned not to expect more survivors.

Among the latest fatalities were 51 people, including six foreigners, whose remains were found in the Langtang Valley in Rasuwa district, 35 miles north of Kathmandu. The area, with a dozen inns near the trekking trail, was buried by a landslide after the earthquake. The entire village of Langtang was wiped out by the avalanche. At least a further 200 other people are still missing in the area, including trekkers among the 109 foreigners still unaccounted for since the quake.