Kathmandu, Nepal: The death toll in Nepal from a massive weekend earthquake has risen to nearly 5,500, according to a new tally by disaster management officials.

A total of 5,489 people are now known to have died in the 7.8-magnitude quake, according to an update from the National Emergency Operation Centre, while more than 100 others were killed in neighbouring India and China.

UN launches urgent appeal

‘There have been some weaknesses in managing the relief operation,’ Communications Minister Minendra Rijal told Nepal's Kantipur Television, acknowledging the government had been overwhelmed by the devastation from the deadliest quake in Nepal since 1934.

‘The disaster has been so huge and unprecedented that we have not been in a position to meet the expectations of the needy people,’ he added.

There was also desperation in devastated rural areas. People have been pleading to be airlifted out when the occasional helicopter has reached their villages with relief supplies.

In Dolakha angry residents smashed windows of a local administrative building, said Chief District Officer Prem Lal Lamichhane. ‘Over 200,000 people are homeless. We've been told that materials are on their way, but we haven't received them yet,’ the official pleaded.

On Wednesday, the world body appealed for US$415 million for Nepal, saying that around 70,000 houses had been destroyed and another 530,000 damaged. One estimate has put the cost of reconstruction at US$5 billion.

‘Although I am heartened and encouraged by the progress of the response to date, efforts need to be maintained and stepped up to ensure vital assistance reaches all the affected, especially those in the remote areas,’ said UN resident coordinator for Nepal, Jamie McGoldrick.

Earlier McGoldrick said that the Nepalese government had told organisers of the relief effort there was no need for further outside help, with teams from many countries on the ground.

'So thirsty he drank his own urine'

Among the dead were 18 climbers who were at Mount Everest base camp when an avalanche from the quake flattened everything in its path. The victims included two Americans, an Australian and a Chinese national.

Police on Wednesday released a list of 33 foreigners still missing since the earthquake, including 15 Israelis, five Canadians, three Bangladeshis and three French nationals.

Rescuers underlined the daunting scale of the task. An Indian Air Force plane trying to reach one of the worst-hit areas near Kathmandu was forced to drop packets of noodles and sacks of rice from the air after being unable to land, with the ground below looking like the set of a war movie.

‘We tried for 20 minutes but there was no possible way we could land. There was debris and rubble everywhere,’ Wing Commander Abhijit S. Bali told AFP at Larpak village 80 kilometres outside the capital.

An Indian military helicopter had better luck in the Gorkha Valley on Wednesday, airlifting around a dozen mainly Slovakian trekkers to safety.

And French rescuers plucked one man from the rubble of his Kathmandu hotel late Tuesday after he was trapped under masonry for around 82 hours.

Barely conscious and covered in dust, Rishi Khanal was taken to hospital after being fitted with a neck brace and a drip attached to his right arm. ‘He said he was so thirsty that he even drank his own urine,’ his brother-in-law Purna Ram Bhattarai told AFP.