E-Paper
One-fourth of total deaths in quake was of children below 10: Nepal
A 7.9-magnitude quake hit Nepal on April 25, killing thousands and demolishing more than half a million homes, most of them in rural areas cut off from emergency medical care. A second major quake struck on May 12 just as Nepalis were beginning to recover from the previous one.
Children below 10 years of age accounted for one-fourth of the total number of deaths in last month's devastating earthquake and its aftershocks in Nepal, police said.
A 7.9-magnitude quake hit Nepal on April 25, killing thousands and demolishing more than half a million homes, most of them in rural areas cut off from emergency medical care. A second major quake struck on May 12 just as Nepalis were beginning to recover from the previous one.
Figures released by Nepal police of 7,679 victims, whose age could be identified, show that nearly 2,000 of them were children between zero and 10 years. The data was released on Monday.
The ages of nearly 1,000 of the over 8,500 killed in the April 25 quake and the May 12 aftershock measuring 7.3 on Richter scale are yet to be verified.
Among figures for males, 28% or 962 were below 10 years whereas 24% or 1,024 of the total number of deaths among females were of girls in that same age category.
The next category where most casualties were witnessed was between 11 and 20 years of age. Among boys, 12% or 387 fell in this group while the figure was 13% or 535 among girls.
More women have died in the last month's devastating earthquake and following aftershocks compared to men. Of the victims whose ages could be verified 56% (4,281) were women in comparison to 44% (3,398) men.
Sixty three people (33 males and 30 females) between the age group of 90 and over 100 years were also among the list of casualties.
At least 58 foreigners, including 40 Indians, have died in the quake and its aftershocks while 112 others are still missing.
