U.S. Green Berets in Nepal for training stay to help with quake relief

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon says two teams of U.S. Army Green Beret soldiers happened to be in Nepal when the deadly earthquake struck Saturday and are staying to help with search and relief efforts.

A Pentagon spokesman, Col. Steve Warren, says the 26 U.S. soldiers were in Nepal for high-altitude and other training with the Nepalese army. The 11-person crew of a C-130 cargo plane that brought them to Nepal also is remaining in case of a request to evacuate any American citizens in the affected area.

In addition, Warren says that a second U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane departed Monday from March Air Force Base in California to transport members of a Los Angeles urban search and rescue team to Nepal. It is due to arrive there Tuesday.

Secretary of State John Kerry is telling reporters in New York that the US aid to Nepal has grown from $1 million to $10 million.

Aid is coming from more than a dozen countries and many charities, but Lila Mani Poudyal, the government's chief secretary and the rescue coordinator, said Nepal needed more.

He said the recovery was also being slowed because many workers -- water tanker drivers, electricity company employees and laborers needed to clear debris -- "are all gone to their families and staying with them, refusing to work."

The death toll soared past 4,000, even without a full accounting from vulnerable mountain villages that rescue workers were still struggling to reach two days after the disaster.

In Nepal's capital city, Kathmandu, CBS News correspondent Holly Williams said hundreds of wounded continued to pour into hospitals. Many of the facilities were already poorly equipped for a disaster like this, and badly damaged buildings and the fear of aftershocks drove both doctors and patients into open areas outside, where treatment was even more challenging.

In:
• Nepal
• United States Army