it started with neighbors and local officials digging with their hands through the rubble.
As soon as a deadly earthquake stopped rattling a swath of Nepal, before the scope of the damage was calculated, the digging began.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake has killed more than 1,400 people, and the death toll is expected to rise.
One witness, Joe McEnness, captured a photo of police officers in Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, trying to dig survivors out of a collapsed building.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said its volunteers and staff were aiding rescue efforts and providing first aid to the injured.
The Red Cross opened a blood bank in Kathmandu, as well.
Reports from Nepal indicated that hospitals were overflowing with patients and suffering from shortages.
One doctor in the outskirts of Kathmandu put out a plea for engineers to come to his hospital to help back up the electricity supply.
“Victims will be dying if we don’t have it,” Dr. Subhash Acharya tweeted.
CNN’s Manesh Shrestha suffered a cut that required stitches, but was turned away from a hospital because there were others with more dire needs, he said. He saw people lying outside with broken bones and head injuries.
With communication limited, many turned to social media to ask for help locating their loved ones.
Google India launched a Person Finder website to work as a clearinghouse for information on those who are missing and those who have been found.
As of Saturday night in Nepal, Google was tracking some 1,400 records.
Swift international response
Nepal’s neighbor India deployed teams to Kathmandu almost immediately.
Within hours of the quake, India had sent almost 300 personnel, along with search dogs and supplies.
The equipment arrived in Nepal via a series of cargo and airlift planes, including a C-130 Super Hercules, one IL-76, and two C-17 Globemasters, according to India’s Ministry of Defense.
Two additional helicopters were deployed from India but turned back because of bad weather, the ministry said.
Pakistan announced it is sending a medical team, a 30-bed hospital and search-and-rescue experts.
Israel’s military was preparing to send a team to assess the damage from the quake ahead of a humanitarian mission, the Israel Defense Forces said.