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Close to 2,000 dead after earthquake rocks Nepal

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People free a man from the rubble of a destroyed building after an earthquake hit Nepal.EPA
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Rescue workers remove debris at Durbar Square after the earthquake in Kathmandu.AP
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A devastating earthquake tore through Nepal on Saturday, killing at least 1,900 people, triggering a deadly avalanche at Mount Everest and reducing a landmark 19th-century tower in the capital of Kathmandu to a jagged stump.

Even the luckiest victims looked like pale ghosts as they were pulled from the rubble, grimacing and covered in a film of ashen dust.

By nightfall, hundreds were believed to still be buried under wreckage in the capital and smaller villages throughout the Kathmandu valley, where the magnitude 7.9 temblor was centered.

People search for survivors stuck under the rubble of the landmark Dharahara, also called Bhimsen Tower.EPA

Tens of thousands of people, fearful of aftershocks, spent the chilly, rainy night outdoors.

“I screamed and rushed outside,” Indian tourist Devyani Pant told Reuters of sitting in a Kathmandu coffee shop with friends just before noon when “suddenly, the tables started trembling and paintings on the wall fell on the ground.”

Outside, carnage was everywhere.

“We are now collecting bodies and rushing the injured to the ambulance,” she said. “We are being forced to pile several bodies one above the other to fit them in.”

The quake and its aftershocks could be felt 500 miles away and caused scattered casualties and damage in three neighboring countries.

For Nepal, it was the worst earthquake in 81 years.

An additional 51 deaths were reported in northern India, with 17 more in Tibet and two in Bangladesh.

Seismologists said the earthquake was more destructive because it occurred close to the surface.

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It was caused by massive shifts along the same fault line that built the Himalayan mountain range over the centuries, experts said.

Some 300,000 foreign tourists were estimated to be visiting throughout Nepal for the spring trekking and climbing season, and officials reported being overwhelmed with calls from worried friends and relatives.

Kathmandu, located just 50 miles from the epicenter, suffered the worst casualties and damage.

At least 720 died there, and many buildings — including ancient Hindu temples — lay in ruins.

Hospitals were so crowded that some of the injured had to be treated outdoors.

“I can see three bodies of monks trapped in the debris of a collapsed building near a monastery,” said Pant, the Indian tourist.

“We are trying to pull the bodies out and look for anyone who is trapped.”

Also destroyed was the 100-foot-high, minaret-style Bhimsen Tower in the heart of the capital.

Some 180 bodies were pulled from the popular tourist attraction’s ­ruins, China’s Xinhua news Agency reported.

Donatella Lorch, a journalist who lives in Nepal, told NBC News that she was driving her son to a pizza restaurant when the quake hit.

“Initially I thought I had a flat tire, but then it was almost like you were being buffeted like a small boat in the ocean. The road was going in waves,” she said. “Everyone else was driving erratically, slamming on the brakes, people screaming, motorcycles falling in front of us, trees completely bent in two.”

Damage to communications systems, roads and Kathmandu’s international airport hindered the initial rescue and assessment efforts.

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But an international response quickly mobilized among world leaders and charities.

The United States will send rescue teams, Secretary of State John Kerry declared.

He said he has instructed Peter Bodde, the US ambassador to Nepal, to release an initial $1 million in humanitarian aid.

“We are working closely with the government of Nepal to provide assistance and support,” Kerry said in a statement.

“To the people in Nepal and the region affected by this tragedy, we send our heartfelt sympathies,” the secretary of state added.

The US disaster response will include an urban search-and-rescue team from Virginia’s Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, officials said.

The Fairfax team had also been deployed to Japan after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

With Post Wire Services