The U.S. has pledged an additional $9 million in earthquake relief to Nepal, Secretary of State John Kerry announced Monday.
That comes on top of the $1 million the U.S. pledged immediately after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck on Saturday. The United Nations is releasing $15 million from its central emergency response fund.
In addition, the U.S. is sending more than 100 search-and-rescue workers. Two teams of Green Berets, already in Nepal for military training, will be assigned to help with earthquake rescue efforts, Kerry said Monday from the United Nations headquarters in New York. The two teams are to join in the search and rescue missions around Everest Base Camp.
By afternoon in Nepal, the death toll from Saturday’s earthquake had reached more than 4,700. A senior interior ministry official said it could reach as much as 5,000. Four Americans died in the quake, according to the State Department.
