Friday, May 8, 2015

Together For Nepal - Nepal Earth Quake Update

Together For Nepal

Despite numerous warnings by experts about possible massive earthquake in Nepal, no one was prepared for the ill-fated Saturday morning of 25th April. In a matter of less than a minute, the nation’s capital and many towns and villages succumbed to the 7.8 magnitude earthquake, bringing down homes, battering religious monuments and heritages, and most of all stealing thousands of lives.



No one was prepared for an earthquake; at least no one was expecting it to witness it so soon or for the next 100 years. It was only a few months earlier that earthquake awareness campaigns were taking place across town, advising people to prepare earthquake survival kits to last for seven days, showing people safe places to hide in, informing them about camps to head to and what not. What nonchalantly popped up in conversations between friends and what was carelessly (sometimes as a humor-me subject) talked about became a reality; it became a nightmare. A nightmare everyone wants to wake up from but cannot.  

Statistics report more than 8,000 dead; a number that will inevitably rise as days pass by, more than 14,000 injured and millions to be homeless. Thousands are still missing, amongst which hundreds are non-nationals who were in the country for visits and holidays. The country is facing one of the biggest tragedies in its history, something we hope nobody, anywhere ever has to go through. It is a painful event of not only the passing away of loved ones, walls crumbled, beautiful monuments crushed, but of an entire way of living hindered. The Durbar Squares that resounded of fluttering pigeons, faithful tolling of bells, never ending laughter of friends between sips of sweet milk tea, is now filled with an eerie silence.

In villages that were pancaked by the tumultuous shake, people wait for help to come. Efforts made locally, nationally and internationally are of some solace to places that can be reached. And then there are those that have been rendered inaccessible by landslides. Evacuation, rescue and immediate food and shelter help is the most trending topic in Nepal these days, amidst a few other controversies. And it should be the most trending topic and focal point for months to come. It is commendable what the Nepali armed force and police officials have done regardless lack of suitable resources in this catastrophe. The people of Nepal have stayed united and strong, something many had started to doubt on. Nepal has persevered in the face of impossible, sharing love, giving hand and exemplifying the meaning of a family.


The damages suffered by some of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites during the earthquake have been called irrevocable. But what people seem to forget is that what we built, we can rebuild. Temples and palaces and houses and relics, all that today is in rubbles, will rise again. Nepal will brush up the dust and stand up again; perhaps more awake, stronger, more beautiful and more united than we ever were.