Remote districts are still inaccessible five days after second Nepal earthquake

Health officials have been unable to reach health facilities in Nepal’s Dolakha district, five days after it was hit by a second major earthquake.

The 12 May earthquake, measuring magnitude 7.3, came just over two weeks after a 7.8 magnitude shock had devastated many towns and villages in the country on 25 April.

Rahul Pradhan, a surveillance medical officer for the World Health Organization, said that health services in Dolakha, one of the districts worst affected by the second earthquake, had already been fragile before the second shock. Of 57 health facilities in the province, including hospitals and primary care centres, 27 were completely damaged in the first earthquake, 18 were partially damaged, and …