Nepal declares national crisis as quake toll tops 4000

The Nepalese government now says the death toll from Saturday's earthquake is now close to 4-thousand.

The 72-hour so-called "golden window" to rescue possible survivors is now fading.

Damaged roads, broken communication lines and landslides, as well as a lack of earth-moving equipment in rural areas is making relief efforts that much more difficult.

More than 1.4-million people in Nepal have been displaced by the 7.8-magnitude quake and its subsequent aftershocks.

The Chinese government is set to dispatch another search and rescue team into Nepal later on today.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei says the crews will join the 55 other PLA members who arrived in Kathmandu yesterday.

"The Chinese military rescue team and medical team totaling 170 members will leave for Kathmandu in groups. The 186-ton relief supplies prepared by the Chinese government, including tents and blankets, will be delivered to Nepal by four planes."

For more on what's happening on the ground in the quake zone, CRI's Spencer Musick spoke earlier with Prakash Babu Paudel, a local journalist based in Kathmandu.