Nepal Asks Foreign Rescuers to Leave as Hopes Fade

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Mon, 2015-05-04 11:03 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES By GARDINER HARRIS May 4, 2015

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Nepal’s government is asking foreign search-and-rescue teams to leave the country now that the likelihood of finding anyone alive among the rubble from last month’s earthquake has largely passed.

Japanese rescue workers removed debris from a collapsed building on Saturday in Sankhu, Nepal. Some teams said they had no intention of leaving the country, despite the government's request. Credit David Ramos/Getty Images

“We have already asked them to go home,” Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, a Home Ministry spokesman, said on Monday, adding that roughly half of the 4,000 foreign rescuers had already left. “I think all the rescuers will go to their respective countries by Friday.”

Some of the teams, however, said they had no intention of leaving immediately.

The leader of a large Spanish team, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he had not been authorized by his embassy to speak publicly, said that Nepal’s government would soon divide Kathmandu, the capital, into sectors so that various teams would have responsibility for specific parts of the city. In the early days of the rescue effort, teams often ended up searching the same sites because of a lack of coordination.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/world/asia/nepal-earthquake-foreign-rescuers.html?_r=0

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