Nepal Earthquake: Officials reported at least 1,500 dead and warned the toll could rise as rescue teams are still searching for survivors

Britain has deployed a team of humanitarian experts to Nepal after a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake ripped across the region, killing more than 1,500 people in four countries.

The eight-strong team will provide urgent humanitarian support for people affected by the disaster, International Development Secretary Justine Greening announced tonight.

Disaster response specialists, including experts in search and rescue, will travel to Nepal overnight where they will assess the scale of the damage caused by the quake, which destroyed homes, businesses and temples in the capital of Kathmandu.

The earthquake also triggered a massive avalanche on Mount Everest killing 18 people and injuring at least 30 climbers. There are also a number of climbers still missing, including a number of Britons.

 

Unaccounted for: Britons Sebastian Lovera, 22, from Tonbridge, Kent, and Laura Wood, 23, from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

Missing: Tara Bradshaw, 24, from Brighton, is among the Britons who have not been heard from since the devastating earthquake 

+72

+72

Britons Julia Carroll (left), 22, from Boxford, Suffolk, and Daniel Mazur (right) were both missing following the earthquake and avalanche

+72

Jay Devine was also listed on Google Person Finder, which allows people to search for information on realtives missing in Nepal

+72

A man buried up to his shoulders in rubble is rescued from the remains of a destroyed building in Kathmandu, Nepal, after the earthquake

+72

+72

Locals rescued two more dust-covered men, pulling them up on the the street as they work to find and rescue any survivors of the disaster

+72

Effects of the quake were felt hundreds of miles away in neighbouring countries with 36 killed in India, 12 in Tibet and 4 in Bangladesh. Two Chinese citizens died at the Nepal-China border

Two men stand on top of the remains of a building destroyed by the earthquake as a collapsed telephone pole teeters in the rubble nearby

Men carry an injured person through the streets of Kathmandu, Nepal after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake caused massive damage in the city

Scared that tremors might destroy their homes overnight, residents of Kathmandu set up camp on the central reservation of a major road

A man is buried up to his neck in rubble as the rescue teams attempt to dig him free from the collapsed building in the capital of Nepal

People search for survivors stuck under the rubble of a destroyed building, after the earthquake caused serious damage in the capital 

A woman cries after she finds out her son was trapped inside a house which collapsed in the Nepal earthquake which also sparked a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest

Images: Reuters