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.
