Aizawl: Protestant missionaries from Mizoram declined to be evacuated from quake-ravaged Nepal saying they would stay back and help those in need.

Mizoram Synod Mission Board Secretary Rev Lalchhuanmawia said there were no plans to evacuate the missionaries working in Nepal and they did not want to leave the devastated country.

Baptist Church of Mizoram general secretary Rev LH Lianngaia said they had informed two of their missionaries that they could return, but they declined the offer, saying they have to look after the church members in time of crisis.

Nepal has more than 50 Mizo families working as missionaries, which included seven ordained pastors of the Presbyterian Church, one Baptist church pastor and a Salvation Army Officer, reported zeenews.india.com.

Repeated aftershocks forced the missionaries in Kathmandu and their family members to sleep outside the residence of Field Secretary of the Nepal Mission Board Rev Lalrintluanga Ngente on Saturday and Sunday nights, a missionary told his relatives here over phone.

A local church belonging to the Presbyterians was damaged in Lucham, while another under-construction church was also damaged in Padampur, the missionaries said adding, all Mizo missionaries and their family members were safe.