Nepal's Prime Minister Sushil Koirala on Monday said that the death toll from the two earthquakes have struck the nation in the past three weeks had crossed the 8500 mark.
"The death toll is almost 9,000. Injures over 20,000. Completely destroyed houses over 500,000 and partially destroyed houses over 300,000. Almost 1,000 government buildings have been completely destroyed," Koirala said at a new conference here.
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, killing thousands and demolishing more than half a million homes, most of them in rural areas cut off from emergency medical care.
A second major quake struck on May 12,76 kilometres east of Kathmandu.
The death toll from the two quakes now stands at 8,583, the home ministry said on Monday.
The previous earthquake in the country, in 1934, killed at least 8,519 people.