Life in Kathmandu

As we write this blog spot we have just responded to yet another tremor after a few days off. We have become quick at rushing out of doors, as is the recommended drill, whenever we hear the alarm and feel the tremor. Many homes are equipped with an earthquake warning system which causes a continuous ringing of bells as soon as it detects an earthquake’s sound wave before the shear wave hits the immediate area. The idea is not to be inside a building as it may collapse. We try to keep our cell phones nearby to take along on our dash. This one in the middle of the afternoon is less of an adrenaline rush than the ones that wake us up in the middle of the night.

Upon our arrival on May 9, we were surprised to find an intact airport. We were expecting something similar to the experience we had in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan where the airport was in ruins, as was everything we saw for miles around. In Kathmandu we have seen numerous older buildings crumbled, many homes with large visible cracks and hundreds of brick fences shattered and scattered. It was sad to see beautiful historic buildings in the four old palace areas and dating back to the 1400’s destroyed. Many of these are World Heritage Sites.

Nepal terrain rises from sea level to the top of the highest mountain in a span of about 100 miles. It has three major North-South rivers along with three East-West mountain ranges. Eight out of ten of the world’s highest mountains are located in Nepal. No wonder homes are built on so many elevations. Most houses are very narrow and three stories high.

 

We have experienced and seen restaurants closed because of damage and others partially functional because employees have left town and have not yet returned.

One very notable and prevalent sight here is people living and sleeping outdoors. There are tents and tarps set up in open spaces and a nearby tennis court becomes a camping ground at nighttime. There is a great fear of sleeping in or working inside buildings. On the night after the second earthquake, several young women who work and reside in our guesthouse were planning to sleep outside until they were invited to bunk with two of our colleagues in the room nearest to the front door.

We have noted the high degree of fear demonstrated and verbalized by the people in Kathmandu. Despite this observation, we were quite surprised to discover that the church service we chose to attend was held outside of a church building that looked to be quite intact. When a church attendee, a man from Engineering Ministries International (EMI) offered to assess the church building, the leaders were shocked to hear that absolutely no one should enter the building before the structure was reinforced.

We hear that due to structural damage, many buildings are unsafe and some of those left standing after the first earthquake crumbled with the second one. In many of the villages that are closer to the epicenter of the two largest earthquakes, all of the homes have been destroyed.

In addition, landslides in many areas make it extremely difficult to gain access to some of the towns. We will be able to comment on that in greater detail once we make a field trip to some of the beneficiary locations.

Outdoor church service

We have been blessed to find a comfortable guesthouse where we and four colleagues have bedrooms on one floor and a communal kitchen downstairs. One of our first priorities was to establish a disaster response office. We are thankful that we were able to rent a spacious warehouse and that we have been able to establish a second floor office at the same location. It has lots of windows from which we can view the surrounding terrain and observe people living in tents or under tarps – a constant reminder of the ongoing trauma the Nepalese people are experiencing.

During the first two weeks after the earthquake, prior to our arrival, there was a distribution of vital food supplies by the members of the CRC partner church in Kathmandu. They served 1,942 families within five of the most severely affected districts.

In the third week of the response, newly appointed, local, World Renew Relief Coordinators have been assessing villages for the project we are now undertaking. Our Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) specialist has also been carrying out assessments in communities in order to determine which ones require water filters to provide safe drinking water.

The challenge this week has been to obtain permission to work in particular wards and villages and to identify which other NGOs are already in these areas. The goal is to identify where the gaps are in order to avoid overlap.

We are currently gearing up for a second wave of emergency relief.  During this phase we plan to provide a broader number of items including:

In closing, we are doing well.  Our spirits are good, we are healthy, and we appreciate the opportunity to serve here.