US praises India's role in helping quake-hit Nepal

New Delhi, April 28: US on Tuesday praised India's leadership role in helping earthquake-hit Nepal and persons of different nationalities stranded in war-ravaged Yemen.

"India has demonstrated its global leadership in recent weeks, first in Yemen and now in Nepal. We are grateful; we are impressed; we are inspired.

And because our cooperation is expanding, India is using C-17s and C-130s on the front lines of its response," US Ambassador to India Richard Verma said here at the Amcham function.

He said that the US side has received administrative clearances for its relief efforts in Nepal without delay."As our relationship progresses, we will be able to do even more together," he added.

India was the first to respond to the Nepal crisis and it immediately sent relief material. The death toll in the devastating earthquake that rocked Nepal has climbed to over 4,350 today with more than 8,000 injured.

Crisis loomed over quake-hit Nepal with an acute shortage of food, water, electricity and medicines as fear of another quake kept tens of thousands of people out in the open.

Verma also said that the US has provided USD 10 million in humanitarian funding. He said that the embassy has deployed personnel and disaster response resources to Nepal to participate in the rescue effort.

PTI