CRI听力:Kathmandu Airport Reopens on Sunday Morning

Nepal's Kathmandu capital's international airport has reopened on Sunday morning after Saturday's half-day shut down.

Commercial flights in and out of Kathmandu were canceled due to the 8.1- magnitude earthquake, which is said to be the worst tremor to hit Nepal in over 80 years.

The temporary shut-down has caused lots of Chinese tourists to be stranded in Kathmandu airport.

Zhang Xuesong is the head of the Katmandu Office of Air China. He says, as of Saturday night, there are about 800 Chinese tourists stranded in the airport.

"There are about 100 Chinese stranded in the terminal building, and nearly 700 waiting at the airport's parking lot. The airlines are actively arranging flights now. We have a flight today and another tomorrow flying from Chengdu to take the stranded passengers. In the aspect of emergency accommodation, works went smoothly. We hope that Chinese passengers can be patient because of the difficult conditions here. We are trying our best to send them home as soon as possible."

The Chinese government is also making efforts to bring stranded passengers home.

Cheng Ji with the Chinese Embassy in Nepal says they are currently coordinating with major Chinese commercial airlines such as Southern Airlines, Eastern Airlines to return Chinese tourists home.

"The airlines are expected to send flights on Saturday night. We have arranged special staff at the airport to help the Chinese passengers return home. Affected by the strong quake, the facilities at the airport are damaged to certain extent. And Ground staff is also not enough. We are overcoming different difficulties to let all the stranded Chinese passengers return home tonight as early as possible."

Nepal is a popular tourist destination, receiving one million visitors worldwide every year.

China is the second largest tourist source to Nepal. More than 90-thousand travelers visited the country last year.

At the land border between Nepal and the Tibet autonomous region, more than 500 Chinese and foreign tourists have been resettled in tents by Chinese rescue team after being stranded in Camphorwood port.

The power of the tremors brought down several historic temples and towers in the ancient Old Kathmandu, including the capital's landmark centuries-old Dharara Tower.

For CRI, I'm Min Rui.