The earthquake

I've read a little on the news.
This is a mess, with a lot of death and misery.
One prays for them.

I feel the same. We are in Pokhara - so yesterday when it started, we just ran out and watched the house shaking. We thought it was just a weird and little scary experience until we saw the news from Kathmandu. Since then we just watch the death toll rising pretty much every hour... ): Still waiting for the news from the epicenter...

My deepest sympathies for the neighbouring country!!
Our flights have already come to help with aids and more to come...
Be brave... please
God bless you!!!

Hi,

The Expat.com team would like to express its deepest sympathies to all the inhabitants of Nepal.

Our thoughts are with you at this difficult time.

Julie
Expat.com Team

Hi,
       Help the earthquake victims in nepal..

moderated by Julien
reason : sorry this is not an official link

hi,
    i personally make this blog to get help from abroad for earthquake affected people in nepal. please help earthquake victims in nepal.Below you can check my blog and also link to donate through paypal

moderated by Julien
reason : sorry this is not an official link

Hi everyone,

as stated by Julie, all our thoughts are for Nepalese people.

We've just set up a support campaign for victims of the earthquake, with the help of the red cross.

Hi Juilen,

I will suggest to share the account details on all the forums there will be several who would like to donate. Regards

Thanks for your message. We're displaying the message worldwide.

Should you want to find out more : http://www.redcross.org/news/article/Ne … Countrymen

Hi,
It's really awful what happened in Nepal

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in Nepal at this most difficult time, but mostly the families and friends of the victims, and the survivors who have been displaced from their homes.

I find it strange and inhumane in the extreme that the Nepalese government is making it so difficult for donated items, intended to relieve the suffering of these people, to enter the country that even the United Nations is complaining. What good does it do for other nations to offer hellp when politicians are either too impressed with their own power, or just too stupid to accept it? Blocking humanitarian aid and donations of food, clothing, bedding, etc., makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

One news report quotes a government representative complaining, "Why do they send us things like tuna and mayonaisse? We don't need that, we need things like rice and sugar." Obviously this fool doesn't understand that any food, especially one as nutritious as tuna, certainly is needed. Sad that any government would have officials that are this blatantly uncaring and so out of touch with reality.

This is such a difficult issue. We want to help, but we don't know how. I agree with the politician. It's like during the Afghanistan invasion by the US people sent things like peanut butter. The Afghanistan people didn't know what it was and the Americans laughed at them like it was the Afghanistan people who are ignorant. If I were starving and all I had to eat was Indian curry dishes I would probably starve to death because I cannot eat spicy food. And if they gave it to me with only Indian script to tell me how to prepare it I would just ruin the rest of the food while trying to prepare it. Mayo, as delicious as it makes a baloney sandwich, Nepali do not eat leavened bread. What would they possibly use it for. Also, Mayo can easily turn rancid if not refrigerated and Nepali do not usually have refrigerators. We think like Westerners and laugh at the 'natives' who don't.

A lot of tourists bring pencils, pens and notebooks and dole them out to children. The problem with this is the cost is about 10 times what you'd pay here. You can get nice gel pens for 10-15 cents/rupees. For me, it's about making whatever donation count, not just throw money. Blankets can cost as low as $4-5 each. How much do blankets cost that are made in Asia and then sent to the US or Europe?

Used warm clothes is good to bring for the Sherpas in the mountains, but if you just give them to a social worker only the family members of the social worker will get them. Even if you donate to an orphanage, the kids will still wear rags and the new clothes will go back to the village for his/her relatives. It's hard to comprehend.

Now, for the other issue with the government: I think that has been taken care of due to someone from the UN or somewhere sorta bitch-slapping the officials about the import tax. But the other side of this issue is that when you send a used computer, for example, Nepal ultimately ends up with garbage when it is too old to use. Nepal has few garbage dumps, so what to do with the garbage?

I know it's hard to wrap our brains around as Westerners, but please try to understand. My blog, listed here, can provide more info.

Just to put irrelevant aid in perspective, after  the Balkans war a dedicated incinerator had to be built to get rid of the junk well meaning people sent, including out of date medicines. Whilst screening aid sounds heartless, in the long term it saves resources to accept only relevant items.

Most importantly - logistics and warehouse space is always limited (including fuel), so needs to be handled carefully to not block receipt of much needed resources.

I'm sorry while some of what you say may be true, I do have to disagree with you in part.

Tuna is the most widely consumed fish in the world, and the most nutritious too. It is known by every culture on earth. So trying to compare it to sending peanut butter to Afghanistan is simply ridiculous. And, by the way, although the Afganis may not have recognized it or understood exactly what it was, it does not detract from the fact that it was clearly a nutritious food that rightly should have been sent them.

Developed countries that send aid to other nations ravaged by natural disaster have been doing so for a very long time and they have come to know, and know through EXPERIENCE better than local politicians, what should be sent.

The two most important things that can be sent are bottled water and nutritious, non-perishable, ready to eat foodstuffs that do not need to be cooked or refrigerated. The reason being that following massive disasters such as earthquakes, electrical, gas and water distribution systems are most often destroyed completely so foods can neither be cooked or refrigerated. There is little or no sense in sending rice if the people in cities have no electricity, gas, water with which to prepare it. Sending perishables is also useless since without refrigeration it spoils and becomes a health risk.

Canned tuna is pre-cooked and intended to be eaten exactly as it comes from the can. It needs no refrigeration until after it is opened and in most cases a can or two would be completely consumed immediately and not require refrigeration. Mayonnaise added to the tuna makes it moister and much more palatable as well.

Government refusal to accept any kind of non-perishable food aid is not only ridiculous, but downright cruel. Sorry, this politician who made the statement should be jailed for crimes against humanity.

Cheers,
James    Expat-blog Experts Team

But tuna is not part of land-locked Nepal's normal diet. FAO usually provide grains suitable for the local diet. Nutrient-rich biscuits are also available. Milk powders are usually also provided which are enriched with vitamins and minerals. Equipment to create potable water is usually provided early on. WASH is essential to avoid disease outbreaks.

I am in daily contact with friends in Nepal, so have a fairly idea of how things really are on the ground in my "second home."  I've been wiring money to two Nepali friends who are getting needed supplies to remote villages that have received little or no help.  One of them now lost all his possessions and is now homeless (living in makeshift tent in an open field in Kathmandu) but has taken a leadership position with a group of volunteers--he feels really happy that he is now helping less fortunate people in the villages.

I know from my friends that the Red Cross and Mercy Corps do have "boots on the ground," so those are two organizations that should effectively funnel donations to the people.  I am sure there are others.... but that is the challenge since some organizations are ineffective (either due to their own dysfunction/administrative costs or due to their inability to deal with Nepal government and their "roadblocks.")

Note: As far as the "tuna donation" -- that simply is NOT a suitable item to send to Nepal. From personal experience I know that Nepalis generally do NOT know what tuna is and many simply will NOT eat it.  Small example: I was with a couple of Nepali friends on a rafting trip a few hours from Kathmandu and the guide brought tuna for lunch. My friends asked me what it was and when they smelled and tasted it, they turned up their noses and refused to eat it.  They would have been perfectly happy with rice, especially with some form of dal bhat.

Yesterday again the earthquake jolted Nepal and parts of India which is a very sad news.
Scary days & nights to be spent by the people
RIP for the lives taken away by the natural disaster.

I really find it amazing that people would rather face starvation, than to overcome their cultural likes and dislikes for certain foods. Most people would just go into "survival mode" and eat any food that was given them.

Rice? Until gas and electricity are restored are they all out in the streets cooking it over open fires? And the water they cook it with is it safe potable water?

Milk powder, great! But are they consuming it dry or mixing it with potentially contaminated water???

Some statements just seem to raise more questions than others.

Like I said in my first posting, experience has taught that the very best things to send to any nation following a disaster are potable water and nutritious, ready to consume, non-perishable foods.

I guess we can't control the fact that some people will just turn their noses up at it and insist on rice they can't cook... strange as such logic may be.

I'm a retired American living in Nepal and see what's happening here. A lot of what NGOs are doing isn't being done very efficiently. Also, people are just throwing money at anyone that asks and most of it isn't leaving the 'social worker's' pocket.

I wrote a blog post about it.rugaltravelsnepal.blogspot.com/2015/05/donating-to-nepal-what-you-need-to-know.html

If you have any additional tips to add please leave a comment.

You are so right, but still, many NGOs are not being very effective. For example, someone commented in a newspaper article that sited people selling their donated rice to buy the local brew. At first you'd think this is totally without excuse, right? Well, think again. Many people here in the Ktm Valley don't earn any money and live on less than $2 a day, according to international statistics. Even though they don't have much money they are rich in rice because they grow it. Wouldn't you rather eat your own rice that you grew yourself? They need money for normal daily items, money for bus fare, etc. They just do not need rice, even though they will still stand in line to get some as the NGOs come around with it.

Also, many NGOs are bringing 'tents' and people back in the US think they are really doing good. What they don't realize is they are just plastic tarps, not real tents. People do not need them. Surprised? Additionally, many people send $50 or more for a tent. I can buy 100 of these 'tents' for $50. One man in this village kept 10 of these for himself. Why? Because these are the tarps they use for harvesting the rice and wheat.

What the people need at this time, in this area of Nepal, is aluminum sheets for roofing. They can easily find bamboo to make the frame for a little home. They are going up everywhere and I brought some to the village for my neighbors.

It rained really hard last night and the people staying outside on the hill had to rearrange everything so they could stay dry. I have a full house here at the guest house, one of only three buildings that are safe for occupancy in the building. But many of the people are still afraid to sleep inside. It's so traumatic with aftershocks and new quakes.

Now, please don't hear me say Nepali do not need anything to eat. Nepal goes from almost sea level where they grow many edible crops to the Sherpa country where there isn't even enough air to grow crops. So, yes, the Sherpa would probably eat tuna-if they knew it was supposed to taste so 'fishy;' many of these people have never eaten canned fish and probably won't have a can opener. What would be better would be to buy some dried, little sardine type of fish in Kathmandu and put them on a bus to the high country and tell the driver who to give it to. 

Here's my fundraiser for my neighbors. I seriously don't want any money for myself. I have big plans for this village that will much better then more money. Please ask me about our plans for Changunarayan.

I have three wonderful volunteers helping us here in Changunarayan. One of them put up a new video on youtube for us. I hope you will check it out and share it for us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_4pcf4TZo8

yeah, its so sad.

In the process of organizing a group of tourism returnees to Nepal, not unexpectedly a number of my group members had questions about that terrible earthquake which caused such devastation and sad loss of nearly 9000 lives in the country we all love - two years ago to the month. (I was there, so I know)  It's difficult to know what to say and how to answer, as no one can forecast the future. All we can do is just pray that the "big one" never comes, with enough suffering already, that is for certain. In the meantime, let's be honest, this catastrophic event of April 2015 did impact as would be expected the number of tourist arrivals to that country's destination that year, as these latest available figures show:
Number of Visitors to Nepal (year to year comparison) - figures rounded out to nearest thousand
2016:  729,000
2015:  538,000
2014:  585,000
2013:  587,000
2012:  598,000
2011:  736,000
Since that fateful day of April 25, 2015, when the earthquake struck at 11:56 Nepal Standard time, with a magnitude of 7.8M, there have been hundreds of aftershocks. In the one month of February 2017, four lesser magnitudes were recorded by earthquaketrack.com
February 1st:    5.1M - in Jumla, Midwestern region
February 27th: 4.6M -  in Panauti, Central Region
February 27th: 4.7M -  near Kothari (Duruwa)
February 28th: 4.8M -  in Jumla, Midwestern region
Earthquaketrack seismologists indicate that the largest earthquake in Nepal in past year took place in Namche Bazar, Eastern Region with a magnitude of 5.4M
We must remain optimistic and all hope that mother nature will calm down, but the fact remains, of course, that Nepal is in a geological collision zone where scientists are quick to point out that the Indian tectonic plate continues to push north into the Eurasian plate, moving the ground an average of 2 cm a year, they say.

Unless you are having a great shopping day in the tiny, backstreets of Kathmandu when the next one comes, you are probably just as safe as if you stayed home. Few of the modern buildings fell, if any. I saw one home that was newly built, really beautiful with sculptured Shiva at the top that had a little old house fall on the house next door that caused this beautiful home to lean several degrees. Although I wouldn't have wanted to be in the home during the earthquake, the home was intact. Our guesthouse in Changunarayan had a few stress cracks, but no structural problems.

There was the Budget Hotel in Thamel and the old lookout tower that collapsed and many landslides, but few tourists died in the disaster on a national level. As we look back we can see how blessed Nepal was. If it would have come just 12 hours or 24 hours in either direction it would have been much, much worse. As it was, most of the people were in the fields tending to their crop.

I think it's unwise to stay home because there could be a 2 minute event that causes devastation because it can happen anytime, anywhere.

I recall being on the phone with my mother in 1986 from my house near the royal palace in Kathmandu, when the concrete floor started rippling. It knocked me off my feet but and lasted only about 30 seconds. Other than a crack in a floor, there was no damage to the concrete block and hard brick house, which was only about a year old. In ten years, I think I felt at least 100 earthquakes in the city and up country and in the Terai and was never too afraid....oddly grateful, in fact. The small ones are a good thing, as those minor adjustments help take the pressure off the plates. When the small ones don't happen, the pressure builds up for the big ones.

Three years later, Nepal should be rebuilding, not failing to rebuild. And yet if one is to believe press report just out, we are told billions "to rebuild Nepal are being misdirected". They write that to date, only 15% of some 708,000 family homes have actually been rebuilt. Earthquakes are sad enough, but this is compounding everything, making a tragedy even worse. This news is sure to raise a few eyebrows.