Rescue workers search for bodies as a stretcher is kept ready after an earthquake hit, in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Rescue workers search for bodies as a stretcher is kept ready after an earthquake hit, in Kathmandu, Nepal April 25, 2015. Reuters/Navesh Chitrakar

Viber has offered free incoming and outgoing calls for people in Nepal while the Himalayan country recovers from a massive earthquake. The country has been suffering from several power shortage and disconnected communication lines due to the 7.9-magnitde earthquake on Saturday.

Viber said that the company make inbound calls to Nepal free as well. The company posted the announcement on Twitter. Some of the users asked if the company could allow people outside Nepal to call to Nepali numbers for free. Viber’s decision to make inbound call free for Nepal might have come as a response of the popular demand.

The company also asked users to spread the news so that more number of people could take advantage of the free service. “Please help us to spread the word so we can assist anyone trying to contact loved ones,” it posted with an image declaring that Viber Out was allowing all calls to mobile and landlines in Nepal for free.

In an earlier announcement, Viber announced that it was allowing users in Nepal could call for free. “In response to the earthquake in Nepal we have switched off Viber Out billing so Nepal users can call any destination for free,” the tweet said.

Power networks in the devastated Asian country are down. Most smartphone users are not able to recharge their phones. Telecom providers in India announced that it would allow free calls to Nepal. BSNL and MTNL, the telecom services owned by the Indian government, announced that international call rates would be slashed. People calling Nepali numbers will be charged local rates three days, it said. Airtel, on the other hand, announced on Saturday that it would allow free calls to Nepal for the next 48 hours.

This is not the first time Viber made a humanitarian gesture at times of a natural disaster. It earlier allowed people to use its Viber Out feature for free in 2013 when the Philippines was severely affected by typhoon Yolanda. People in the Philippines were allowed to call no non-Viber numbers without charge.

More than 3,700 people have been confirmed to be dead in Nepal after the lethal earthquake. There are around 1,000 people who have been buried by rock falls.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au

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