Himalaya quake victims spent night outside in rain

Thousands of homeless villagers in the Himalayas spent a miserable night outdoors in heavy rains after a powerful earthquake flattened houses and rescuers struggled to reach victims in the mountains of India, Nepal and Tibet.Rescue workers with helicopters and earth movers ferried supplies and dug through mudslides trying to reach villages cut off by the quake that killed 53 people and damaged more than 100,000 homes.The weather slowed the relief effort, and many homeless villagers spent Monday night outside.Three emergency workers were killed in the frantic rescue effort, Indian Home Secretary R.K. Singh said. More than 6,000 army and paramilitary troops were working to clear concrete slabs, bricks and mud to rescue scores of people trapped under houses that collapsed when the 6.9-magnitude quake struck the Himalayan region Sunday evening.Nine helicopters dropped food to villages, airlifted a medical team, evacuated the injured and conducted damage assessments, Singh said. Heavy construction equipment was used to clear some of the blocked roads, he said.