Nepal earthquake: US and Canada nationals missing list released as death toll set to pass 10,000

As the devastating impact of the massive earthquake in Nepal continues, the Red Cross have released a list of 123 people missing from the United States and 43 from Canada.

Nepal's Prime Minister Sushil Koirala has announced the death toll could pass 10,000 while the UN said eight milllion could be directly affected by the worst earthquake to hit the Himalayas in almost a century, killing people in four countries.

A RAF plane flew out today (28 April), carrying tonnes of aid and army troops including Gurka soldiers to aid in the huge search and rescue effort in the Kathmandu valley, as British and Irish nationals still remain unaccounted for. Thirty out of 90 UK nationals believed missing have now been traced.

US Nationals Believed to be Missing

Koirala has pleaded with the international community to come forward and contribute to the aid effort to deal with the disaster.

He told Reuters: "The government is doing all it can for rescue and relief on a war footing. It is a challenge and a very difficult hour for Nepal."

Aid workers who had reached the edges of the epicentre of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake, which struck on Saturday in east Polkhara only 40 miles from the city of Kathmandu, described entire villages reduced to rubble. The earthquake killed people in India, Bangladesh, China and Pakistan.

"In some villages, about 90% of the houses have collapsed. They're just flattened," Rebecca McAteer, an American physician who rushed to the quake zone from the distant Nepal hospital where she works, told AP.

Canadian Nationals Believed to be Missing