Geneva - Humanitarian agencies said Monday they were preparing a large-scale aid operation to earthquake-ravaged Nepal, with more relief planes arriving in the coming hours.
"This will be a... massive operation," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the UN's World Food Programme, told AFP.
Officials say more than 4,000 people are now known to have died, the overwhelming majority in Nepal -- making it the quake-prone Himalayan nation's deadliest disaster in more than 80 years.
WFP experts arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday to evaluate the situation, and the agency estimates shelter and medical equipment should be the first priority.
The World Health Organization said Monday it had already distributed medical supplies to cover the health needs of 80,000 people for three months in the country.
"An additional five emergency health kits are being flown in along with surgical kits and trauma bags to meet the immediate health needs. There is an urgent need to replenish medical stocks to support the emergency response efforts," said Poonam Khetrapal, WHO's regional director for Southeast Asia.
But with food also expected to quickly run scarce, WFP has "mobilised all of our food stocks in the region," Byrs said.
WFP is loading a plane with rations of high energy biscuits in Dubai, and Byrs said it would arrive in Nepal Tuesday.
They would be distributed to survivors in the country, taken by truck where possible, but due to the massive destruction, "the relief cargo may need to be airlifted," she added.
The UN refugee agency meanwhile said it was on Monday sending nearly 20,000 plastic sheets and some 8,000 solar lamps.
About half the stocks were already in place in Nepal and the rest were being flown from Dubai to Kathmandu on Monday afternoon on a cargo plane donated by the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, UNHCR said.
WFP experts are meanwhile poring over satellite images to estimate how many people have been affected by the disaster, Byrs said.
She said the worst-hit area was in "an agricultural zone that is home to between two and three million people."
AFP
