Feature: Kathmandu's quake-displaced people desperately in need of life-saving basics

Following a massive earthquake that hit Nepal on Saturday, many people of Kathmandu have resigned themselves to life in the open with very bare essentials, on top of loss of family possessions and even members.

Many escaped their ramshackle house for safety on Saturday, but have since been experiencing a tough time with hunger, thirst and scarcity of life necessities.

In Tudikhel and many other areas in the capital, people have to set up home-made makeshift tents even after the Nepal Army distributed tents, but rather disproportionally due to lack of proper and efficient mechanism.

As returning to their houses is no longer an option, they have to buy such food like instant noodles or biscuits and water at inflated prices as the shop owners claim a limited stock.

"We have around 20 people living under this tent, which we bought last evening following the rainfall. This morning, we queued up in line for an hour to get free instant noodle packets but they ran out before our turn," 35-year-old homemaker Bishnu Khanal told Xinhua.

She has been staying in Tudikhel with her three children and husband. As most of the shops are either closed or running with very limited stock, she had no choice but to buy a packet of noodles for 30 rupees (0.29 U.S. dollar), which ordinarily would cost only 15 rupees.

The government on Monday afternoon admitted that it urgently needs tents, dry food, mattresses, medicine and other essentials. It has urged foreign countries to provide more assistance.

There is also a scarcity of water in the capital. People have to buy bottled water, which they cannot afford even on normal days. Even though there is a high possibility of water borne diseases.

"We don't want anything more but just food and water. We would thank the government if they provided us with that," Hari Gopal Maharjan, a 58-year-old citizen of Kathmantu staying in a park in Naxal said.

The government claimed that it has already started the distribution of relief materials to the public in open spaces, but many have no access to these items due to a lack of efficient distribution mechanism.

Some places have been experiencing blackouts in the last 50 hours, which made it almost impossible to get updates about the earthquake and the relief effort. It is not possible either for many to connect to mobile networks to contact their relatives and loved ones.

Medicine is also running short in the hospitals which are under high pressure to save the quake survivors.

"Though manpower is enough for the treatment of the earthquake survivors, we lack necessary beds, medicine and other equipment for the immediate treatment, including surgery of critically injured people," Gajendra Mani Shah, an orthopedic surgeon at the National Trauma Center told Xinhua in the hospital.

As the humanitarian crisis here escalates, quake victims in the capital desperately and immediately call for more assistance in the form of food, water and shelter. Endi