KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 – The government will send food aid as soon as possible to help victims of the earthquake which hit Nepal last Saturday, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim. He said the Cabinet will be informed of this soon as the number of victims was increasing and all types of aid were needed, especially food.

“We have been informed that the number of people who have died has also increased,” he told Bernama at Parliament’s lobby today. However, Shahidan said the instructions by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to bring home all Malaysians who were stranded in the affected area would be given priority.

He said the National Security Council (NSC) had activated its operations to bring back the stranded Malaysians after receiving the instructions from the Prime Minister yesterday. Among the teams which are part of the Malaysian mission to Nepal are the SMART Team from the NSC, the Red Crescent MERCY Malaysia.

The earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale hit Nepal in the area between its capital city of Kathmandu and the town of Pokhara at 2.56 pm (Malaysian time). Several aftershocks were also subsequently felt. So far, 3,218 people are reported to been killed and more than 6,500 injured in the worst earthquake to hit Nepal in 81 years.

Pocket News

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