Day 6 after the quake

Today was a bit more quiet. Apparently, there were still two shocks during the night, one at 3.55 of 4.2 and one at 6.22 of 4.5 but either I was too exhausted or they were felt so mildly, I slept right through them. Though everybody agrees the worst is over, it is still disturbing to know aftershocks are still happening.

We had less supplies to distribute today, so Shaun went to survey in seven villages, near his home, in the mountains surrounding Bhaktapur. The villages visited vary a lot. Some have almost all houses destroyed and have hardly any shelters, while others had some better-off families with concrete structures that are now accommodating the villagers and they have already started rebuilding the houses. A lot of it seems to depend on their capacities to organize and get access to building materials... It'll be important for them to get their houses in shape before the rainy season.
Thomas did data entry. He's still busy doing so at this hour, so it has been a very long day.

The good news is that the website our group started from the Yellow House, which tracks reports and needs,  got accepted as official website to be used by the Ministry of Health and Interior, and even Google has dropped their own map and linked to ours.

I went looking to buy a motorbike, since transport remains a main issue, not for distribution but to head out to the mountains, to know where the needs are greatest. Unfortunately, all shops were closed so I went around for supplies. Tomorrow will probably be a bigger day, as quite some supplies came in, which can be dispatched tomorrow.

A lot of information is coming in, some of it disturbing. Apparently, the Nepali government wants to centralize all relief assistance  (good thing), but hence be able to capture all transfers done for earthquake relief (not so good).

We've also finally heard from three of our friends which were trekking at Everest, who were at Base Camp just one day before the earthquake. Clearly we were very concerned about them, but we just heard they were hiking back...

Offering help: what to do

Who to give money to: I had hoped to avoid giving direct suggestions on this issue, for the choices aren't easy. And there are ideological makeups as well as past experiences to consider. But many of you asked and therefore I'm giving my personal opinion here. I would advise to spread your donations over these, as they cover different types of needs and approaches.
If you want to go large scale, many donate to Nepal Red Cross, UNICEF World Food Program, or Doctors without Borders (and others here).

Their agendas and operations are straightforward, and their ability to mobilize resources in Nepal is dependable. I want to give a special mention for Habitat for Humanity here.  

The government of Nepal also created a fund, under the Prime Minister, which is criticized by some, cause they're attempting to take the monopoly for all relief funds, but I still want to mention. Anyone wishing to make contributions can do so by making deposits to any of the Relief Fund bank accounts:

• 00100105200270 and 00101102200012 at Everest Bank, 
• 002-11-053313 at Nepal Bank Limited, 0411010000005 at Global Bank Limited, 
• 18013243801 at Standard Chartered Bank and 035142 'C' at Nepal Bangladesh Bank limited

What I am personally involved with and can strongly endorse:

• For my NGO, WSM, which will be supporting our local partners, you can support by this bank account  BE41-8900-1404-3510 mentioning “Nepal” (here in French and here in Dutch).  
• One of them, trade union GEFONT, whom I really appreciate, here.
• With a bunch of people from our neighborhood, we've been doing outreach and created a group: Himalayan Relief Disaster Volunteer Group  which does fundraising through here.
• Closely related to this group and known personally to me, Clean Up Nepal Earthquake Fund here.
• And then our current housemates, CouchSurfers who had done great things in Ghana and are currently launching a project in Nepal, led by Allen Gula, here.
  

Day 5 after the Quake

Wednesday I went out with our volunteer group from the Yellow house to Kavre, out of Kathmandu, to distribute tarp, shovels, soap and other items that might be useful. The coordination is slowly getting organized, with a tremendous amount of people wanting to help, and everybody mobilizing networks and resources to gather stuff.

After a bumpy road, we visited a couple of rural communities in the mountains there. Some were affected more than others. The first village, of about 40 houses with maybe 200 people living there, had maybe half their houses partially or completely destroyed. Temporary make-do shelters had been built in place, cramming up to 17 people into one. Their main concern was how to stay dry with the rains that are frequently falling and stay warm. Luckily their drinking water was still available. Sanitation also remains a big problem, with water that can get contaminated, and livestock that starts to rot inside barns that collapsed.

As I had done some first aid training, I was put in charge of medical aid. Nobody was severely injured though and most of it was disinfecting cuts and bruises. It was greatly appreciated though and seemed to give people a feeling they were being taken care of, providing people with an opportunity to tell their stories and vent. Some of them insisted on showing their houses, the place they were when the quake hit, what happened to their personal belongs, asking we take pictures... Very sad...

Tensions rose a bit at dusk, when the last village started complaining about not receiving enough and argued with the assessments made. It just demonstrates how on the one hand you want to go quick, to help as many people as possible, to avoid having them sleep in the rain, and on the other hand, you want the stuff to go to people who need it the most.

On a personal note, some more people left from the house. There are less and less neighbors using our house to sleep over. Power is being loadshedded, and our inverter doesn't seem to be working properly. Still no internet, only through our phones. I did another interview, with Het Nieuwsblad, trying to highlight both my organisation, WSM, and our partners, GEFONT and NTUC, and how the solidarity is showing here and the most important thing.They didn't publish it however...

Day 4: After the quake

Yesterday, during the entire day there were no tremors but during the evening around 7.30, we had another one, quite short but powerful. I didn't feel any shocks during the night, so hopefully we won't get more. Still no power though more neighborhoods are starting to get it. I was interviewed and broadcasted by Radio 1 and Klara in Belgium.

We go back to the meeting, which has grown exponentially. From focusing on one community, they are trying to coordinate with other similar groups of volunteers, a team is taking out tarp for people to sleep under, they are building a webpage to make an inventory of material and try to appeal volunteers (though others are popping up like here). A Facebook page had been created the day prior for potential volunteers, and got over 26.000 posts in one day, so it was impossible to manage.  

A team of their volunteers went out on mountain bikes to an area close to Bhaktapur, Ranikot, where Shaun is also building a house. They bring back many stories and information. Many houses that weren't made of concrete, collapsed. In places, an entire community of 50 or 80 houses has lost them all. Once it starts raining, they have no shelter, get wet, and sick. If they have injuries, there's infection. Diarrhea is starting to come up. Sometimes live stock was caught under the debris, and is now starting to rot, creating a risk for epidemics. Some of them are journalists documenting, or photographers (here). 

We also sign up to go out tomorrow and help set up tents and dig latrines in a neighborhood just outside of the ring road from Lalitpur. Shaun offers his help and is asked whether he would mind moving bodies at the hospital. Turns out they are bodies and need to be photographed, so they can be identified later...

Our neighborhood group are looking to fund raise (here) and link up with bigger relief organisations and the government. Everybody agrees they should take the lead (and probably the army is still doing the most currently), but everybody is equally skeptical about their capacities. One participant shares that they'd held a protest in front of a government building to demand the government be more active and they got forcible removed by the police. He had been dragged by his hair for 20 meters... 

International help should be arriving. Cluster meetings between IO and NGOs are taking place, the sky is buzzing with planes carrying in supplies. The arrival from the BFAST team from Belgium has been postponed two nights in a row, because so many planes are trying to enter with help. If you check Relief Web, it is buzzing with Countries donating and things arriving, but the only international airport can only accommodate so much.  

And best news of all, once we came back from the meeting, the power as back on in the house! Never been so glad to be able to cook with normal light, pump up water so we can flush toilets and take showers, and recharge everything that had been running dangerously low. We didn't feel any shocks during the day, so we're starting to breath more easily. The Dutch volunteers are starting to trickle out, two have left, two more will leave Wednesday. Also, the neighbors are dwindling, last night, there were only six coming. 

Day 3 after the Quake

Today is day 3 after the earthquake... Our last tremor was this morning, around 6 am. This was the longest stretch we had without tremors, and it gives us hope that it might be finished. Our biggest worry is that there would be an even bigger shock coming. Rumors abound, that experts have predicted the BIG ONE is still to come. Often, we hear more precise predictions, that in the next hour, there will be another quake. These usually don't happen. 

Currently we have a stock of water and food, but no power at the house. We have no WiFi but use the internet through our mobile phones. Not sure yet when electricity will come back, it seems it is already back in some neighborhoods.
This city however does not feel like it is in chaos. Most of the buildings in the city center that collapsed were old temples or old houses. The city still looks like a refugee camp because people are still worried that another big shock is coming, so they prefer to sleep outside. We are hosting about 20 people, the Dutch contingent, which is mostly looking for a way out of the country, and neighbors who sleep on the lawn or under the carport. 

Day 1: The Qake

The three of us were in the master bedroom from our house, discussing color combinations for bed sheets when the earthquake hit. I heard some noise in the distance, a rumbling, everything started shaking and it took us a couple of seconds to realize. I first thought my blood pressure was low, or I was strangely drunk at 11.56 in the morning, but when it dawned on me, I shouted it out: “earthquake” but didn’t know what to do. Do you run, do you hide? Shaun, our visiting Australian friend who had been providing us with his opinion on color schemes, had better reflexes: he ran for the doorpost and stood under it. I belatedly remembered that was indeed the advised thing to do, as it is supposed to be reinforced, and so you’re less likely getting the ceiling on you. We squeezed in the doorway with the three of us, holding on to the sides. It kept going on, seconds seemed like an eternity. I heard crashing from downstairs and shouted to Scott, our intern downstairs, that it was an earthquake. Shouts and screams could be heard from the neighbors. It was very weird, the house wasn't bulging or cracking, it just seemed as if it as getting lifted up and put back down, or shaken from side to side.

Tailing it to Thailand

Initially planned to get a break after the annual reporting and our big partners meeting, Thomas and I had scheduled one of my new year resolutions during the Easter holiday: visiting Thailand. It helped that it was also the dates for the Thai New Year celebration (Songkrun, basically a big water fight in the streets of Bangkok)  and that it would allow us to meet up with Silvija and Eliza, who were coming over from Myanmar. It didn't help the annual reporting still wasn't finished and the partners meeting got postponed till May, but hell, once the tickets are booked, not much else you can do but enjoy, right?

And enjoy it we did! After just a first lay over in Bangkok, we went to Koh Tao, an island south of Bangkok, where I finished of the report and Thomas initially wanted to get certification as a PADI Open Water diver, but time turned out to be too short, so we just explored the island on hired motorbikes and snorkeled tons... After four nights, back to Bangkok, where new year celebrations were starting, and we got splashed a lot. We also visited some temples and palaces. and started looking for silk and some other stuff we wanted to buy. Silvija and Eliza arrived and after a memorable first night, we were off by bus and boat to Koh Samed, 3 hours east of Bangkok.

It's definitely been a very nice break, and it made us realize how much we miss sun, beaches and the sea in our landlocked Nepal. But all things considered, it really isn't very far to come for a holiday...