This story was published by independent press agency SWNS.
These harrowing photographs and video reveal for the first time the devastation left behind in remote epicenter villages still awaiting aid following the Nepal earthquake.
While soldiers and aid workers have been helping in the country's capital Kathmandu since the disaster struck on Saturday, some central villages remain cut off.
The footage was shot by a shocked Gurkha soldier who was airlifted to Saurpani, a village at the earthquake's epicenter, to assess the damage.
Almost all of the village's 200 houses were completely destroyed, and the video shows some the 1,200 homeless residents sheltering from the rain under plastic sheeting.
Their crumbling homes can be seen on the hillside, as they stand in the pouring rain without shelter, food or proper clothing.
The soldier passed it on to health NGO The International Nepal Fellowship who later reached the area with doctors.
The charity were also the first medics to reach Gurkha villages Mailum - where every house has been ruined - and Pokhari Dada.
Aid workers have reported that the majority of the dead in rural areas are children and the elderly because those of working age were out in the fields.
Concerned workers have been forced to fly into the remote villages through treacherous weather, and then walk on foot to surrounding villages.
While they have been able to help those that need medical attention, they have reported the villagers are in desperate need of food and shelter, which is yet to arrive.
The photos and video were taken on Tuesday, but only became available on Wednesday when workers returned from the decimated region.
Speaking on Tuesday, one of the workers, Matt Darvas from New Zealand said: "Days after the earthquake there are still many isolated villages that remain accessible only by helicopters. Bad weather is hampering their efforts however and air assets have only been seen operating from 8am until 1 pm local time today, when a thunderstorm brought lightening and heavy rain which lasted for two hours."
"Visibility remained poor throughout the afternoon except for a small window of clear weather before sunset when several helicopters were again sighted.The larger military helicopters cannot touch down in many of the more remote villages to pick up survivors or deploy rescuers due to a lack of viable landing spaces. Instead, they are performing airdrops of essential food supplies and materials for shelter. "They have been able to pick up survivors and bodies from the more accessible villages."
Colleague Thomas Meier from Germany added: "Since our team arrived in the area yesterday (Monday) they have heard many confirmed reports of countless villages -- ranging from 50 to 1500 residents -- where 70 to 90 per cent of dwellings have been completely destroyed. The simple dwellings have either collapsed or been swept away by landslides, taking with them not only those who were inside -- mainly children and the elderly as those of working age were in the fields - but food supplies that are typically kept within homes."
A joint medical team from the International Nepal Fellowship and the United Mission to Nepal are at the based at the army base in the Gorkha Municipality.
They are working at the request of the Nepal government to help assess the medical needs in remote areas, which are yet to be reached by other charities.
Speaking from the UK, fundraising director Iris Keenan said appalling weather conditions were forcing medics to land helicopters in dangerous areas.
Speaking of a trip to remote village Kerauja on Tuesday, she said: "The team was traveling in increasingly bad weather and at one point they had lost contact with two of the doctors. Whilst en route to the village, a thunderstorm caused the helicopter to land on a mountain top in order to wait out the bad weather before it was safe to travel again. The remaining team was very concerned when they lost contact. The doctors are fine but have only reception an hour walk away from their current position. To get out of the village by foot seems to be impossible. We will try to organize a helicopter to fly them out. They say immediate need in the area is food, shelter and blankets."
The button below indicates how much has been raised on Crowdrise's "Nepal Earthquake Relief" page. Click to visit the site and donate.
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