She was talking to CNN which wanted to know the abrupt increase in death toll by sixteen thousand.
Tasnim in this connection said, we will constantly warning that the death toll will rise. And this is not perhaps the final figure. As we reach out to the remote areas and the more bodies have been discovered. And in large areas the rubble has not been moved. So it is feared that the death toll may rise further, she pointed out.
To a question the spokesperson said about forty five percent people have not been reached. "We estimate three point five million people would be homeless. Forty thousand tents have been delivered. And we are still in short of at least two hundred thousand tents. These tents are not sufficient to provide shelter to all the people".
To another question she said, "We are looking for alternate arrangements. We are distributing tent sheets to those who refused to come down from mountains. We are also trying to provide food to them so that they can survive".
About the assistance received so far Tasnim said that the pledges have been encouraging.
"The problem lies in actually transmission of those pledges and transfer of money".
"The UN has been issuing very dire warnings. They have told us they might have to suspend the operation if we don't get money in the next few days. UN is heavily involved in the relief efforts and they have to suspend their operation because of lack of funds, that would be very unfortunate", she observed.
The spokesperson pointed out that the government is using all helicopters and that we are working throughout day and night.
"There is no sparing of efforts. We are also expecting more helicopters from US and should be arriving shortly. "
And some other countries have also offered helicopters. But the point is that if UN has not been providing helicopters because of lack of funds, that would be a very set back to relief efforts", she stated.