WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Rathke also announced that the US Department of Defense is preparing to deploy helicopters to Nepal to support the US Agency for International Development (USAID) efforts to conduct humanitarian assistance and to deliver critical supplies to hard-hit areas outside Katmandu.
Rathke continued that on Friday US Embassy officials in Nepal with help of US military service members evacuated seven Americans from the Gorkha region. He added that the embassy continues to contract private helicopters to search for US citizens who may be stranded.
“US citizens continue to depart Katmandu, and there are fewer than seventy US citizens now staying at US facilities in the capital,” the spokesperson said.
Earlier this week, Washington confirmed that four US citizens were killed during the earthquake.
On April 25, 2015, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake occurred some 50 miles northwest of Nepal's capital Kathmandu, causing severe destruction across the country and killing more than 5,000 people.
About 10,200 people were injured in Nepal in the tremor and the many aftershocks that followed, according to the United Nations. Some 70,000 houses were destroyed and 530,000 more damaged across the country.
Countries across the globe have offered Nepal both financial and practical assistance to cope with the disaster.
