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UN to mount humanitarian operation in Nepal

Ban Ki-moon has said that the organisation is supporting Nepal’s government in coordination of international search and rescue operations

UNITED NATIONS, April 25. /TASS/. United Nations is preparing to mount a major humanitarian operation in Nepal hit by a devastating earthquake, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday.

In a message of sympathy Ban Ki-moon offered his condolences to the country’s government and families of the killed in the calamity.

The UN secretary general has said that the world organisation is supporting Nepal’s government in coordination of international search and rescue operations and is getting ready for extensive relief efforts.

Two powerful tremors were registered in the mountainous country at about noon. The first one measuring 7.9 magnitude occurred at 11.41 a.m. local time, with an epicentre 80 kilometres of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, and the second of 6.6 magnitude at 12.15 p.m. local time. The seismic focus was at a depth of ten kilometres.

Nepal’s police say that nearly 1,500 people had died in the devastating earthquake that rocked that mountainous country on Saturday. The authorities declared an emergency rule in the regions affected by the calamity.