Hari caught up in Nepalese Earthquake
A massive earthquake has devastated Nepal.
Thousands are feared dead, and many more are injured or have been made homeless.
Buildings have been flattened, communities shattered and lives torn apart. Dozens of aftershocks continue to hit the area, and people are sleeping in the open air from fear of further destruction.
My friend and guide Hari has been caught up in the devistation
Hari keeps sending me photo's and the sights are truly shocking. People lie where they were felled by rocks, landslides and debris.
They are too shocking to show.
This is all that is left of the village Langtang. A place l new well. A village of people in wooden huts tat lived under the glacier in a magnificent valley.
The village was washed away under a deluge of rock. Houses, belongings and all the villages.
I still have photos of the smiling faces of the habitants who made us so welcome.
Deceased: 60 bodies (pictured) - including those of nine foreigners - were discovered in the destroyed Langtang Valley, a popular trekking route
Thousands are feared dead, and many more are injured or have been made homeless.
Buildings have been flattened, communities shattered and lives torn apart. Dozens of aftershocks continue to hit the area, and people are sleeping in the open air from fear of further destruction.
My friend and guide Hari has been caught up in the devistation
Hari keeps sending me photo's and the sights are truly shocking. People lie where they were felled by rocks, landslides and debris.
They are too shocking to show.
7th floor building collapsed in kathmandu and luckily no one died.
I awoke this
morning with the sun shining through the blinds in the peace and tranquillity
of my comfortable bed. Staring up at the ceiling whilst wrapped up in my warm
quilt, my thoughts jumped to the plight of my friend Hari my Nepalese guide. He
unlike me is spending another night with his traumatised elderly mother, wife
and child in the dark. Huddled together not daring to sleep as the earth
grumbles under their donated blankets, with the fear that they will have to
exit any minute to the safety of the open spaces.
I have asked him to
try to keep contact with me through his Facebook connection, which he does when
he can via the intermittent mobile network. But the stories and photos only
reinforce their plight.
The UK has sent
aid, search parties and millions of pounds, but as in all disasters this seems
to only answer the short term problems. Water, food, a cover over the head,
sanitation and the retrieval and burial of the dead.
The livelihood of
millions has been destroyed; a country is in shock and mourning. No one is
climbing or trekking. Ancient monuments, once prized visitor attractions have
been reduced to rubble. Infrastructures are virtually destroyed.
What happens next?
Does it become
another forgotten disaster, like that of the poor displaced Haitians who are
still living in tented villages five years on after the earthquake.
Should we not be
using the money to employ the homeless to rebuild their homes, lives and
infrastructure.
And not with the
clay brick shacks that will buckle and fall again with the slightest of
movement.
We have architects
and building codes in regions that straddle fault lines, could we not offer
their expertise.
Might it be more
prudent to fund the workforce in a way that puts money back into the pockets of
the victims, instead of the corrupt organisations who unfortunately seem to set
up and administer the programmes.
Already people are
stealing the aid and selling it on via the black market.
There must be ways
to overcome this natural disaster that will help the people of Nepal restart
their lives.
Surely its time to
think about long term solutions once the immediate needs is taken care of.
When this earthquake will be
stop???! Just keep going and going and going!! When we have time to sleep???!?
Oh God!!!!!!
This is all that is left of the village Langtang. A place l new well. A village of people in wooden huts tat lived under the glacier in a magnificent valley.
The village was washed away under a deluge of rock. Houses, belongings and all the villages.
I still have photos of the smiling faces of the habitants who made us so welcome.
Deceased: 60 bodies (pictured) - including those of nine foreigners - were discovered in the destroyed Langtang Valley, a popular trekking route
'Wiped out': Only one house reportedly remains in the decimated Langtang Valley which once homed 435 people and 55 hotels
hopes of finding any survivors there are now remote and surviving residents believe the mudslide that engulfed the village could have killed as many as 200
hopes of finding any survivors there are now remote and surviving residents believe the mudslide that engulfed the village could have killed as many as 200
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There must be ways
to overcome this natural disaster that will help the people of Nepal and restart
their lives.
Surely its time to
think about long term solutions once the immediate needs are taken care of.
With all the money
that is being given to Nepal, we must ensure that the people on the ground
receive long term benefits. It should not be frittered away, possibly ending up
in some unnamed anonymous Swiss Bank Account.
Action is required
now. |
| Hari helping with donations |
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