Quake relief efforts continued, but officials warned that they were hampered by problems of getting aid into the country and then delivering it to some of the remote communities in desperate need in the Himalayan nation.

Landslides in remote mountainous areas around the epicentre of the quake hampered rescue and relief teams.

A government spokesman said that helicopters had been dropping tents, dry food and medicine to remote villages but they were yet to reach many isolated communities.

When helicopters managed to land, they are often mobbed by villagers pleading for food and water, or to be evacuated.

Pic:  A C-17 flight from Kathmandu arrives in Delhi this morning with 248 passengers on board.