Aid pouring in as relief stepped up

The Buddhist Association of China holds an assembly in Beijing to pray and raise funds for quake-hit Nepal and China's Tibet autonomous region. WANG JING / CHINA DAILY

The World Health Organization said on Monday that it had distributed sufficient medical supplies in Nepal to cover the health needs of more than 40,000 people for three months.

UNICEF, the UN children's agency, warned that the quake had left nearly 1 million youngsters in desperate need of assistance. It said the thousands of children camping out in the open in Kathmandu are particularly at risk of disease.

In China's Tibet autonomous region, where 20 deaths have been reported from the Nepal quake, snow and landslides have hindered rescue and relief efforts.

Roads, power and communications remained cut off in the town of Rongxar. Snowdrifts reached 10 cm on the road leading to the town, where houses collapsed following the quake.

On Monday, 12 soldiers reached the town. In the worst-hit village, more than 95 percent of houses had collapsed and casualties had been reported, according to Shen Yong, the team's head.

More than 100 soldiers were on their way to the town with tents, quilts and bottled water.

Quake-triggered landslides have blocked sections of many roads to Tibet's border towns of Gyirong and Zham.