Mounting Rescues

"She is stranded, she is trapped, and she is begging and pleading for help. She needs immediate rescue and aid."
"She has limited food, some rice, some water, but it's really cold. When she first called us she was in a panic, crying, literally bawling her eyes out."
"We need our government [Canada] to negotiate with the Nepalese to go in and rescue them."
"Everything around her is completely collapsed, and it's very, very cold. I'm not sure if they have a tent or whether they've found shelter under a roof."
Michelle Dack, Calgary

"There have been so many casualties, in my neighbourhood, all the buildings have collapsed."
"My mother is slightly injured, the fence fell on her when she was working in the garden during the earthquake. But she will be OK. There are others with much worse situations."
Rishi Bastakoti, Calgary Nepalese Community Association

"They [Canadian consular officials in Nepal] are working closely with local officials in Nepal and India to locate and ascertain the well-being of Canadians on the ground."
Diana Khaddaj, spokeswoman, Department of Foreign Affairs

"When I got home, there was nothing. Everything was broken. My wife -- she was dead."
"Only the other villages who have also lost their homes are helping me. But we get nothing from the government."
"I get angry, but what can I do? I am also working for the government. I went to ask the police if they could at least send some men to help us salvage our things, but they said they have no one to send."
Bhoj Kumar Thapa, Nepanese army soldier, Paslang, Nepal

The horrendous death toll resulting from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit the impoverished nation of Nepal continues to grow; latest figures are over five thousand dead, and ten thousand injured, but the numbers are growing. And the simple fact is that humanitarian aid has not yet been able to reach isolated villages where passage is hampered by the earthquake's effect on roads that were barely passable before rocks were hurled down on them from the destabilization of the tremblor.

There are long queues for food and water around the capital, Kathmandu

Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese are without shelter. The weather has turned absolutely miserable; cold, and wet, people huddling for shelter under tarps. They are hungry, they are thirsty, they are in need of medical assistance. They await aid, lining up for food handouts, and preparing to sleep out in the open, huddling for comfort that eludes them in the destruction of all that was familiar. Tents to house them would look good at this juncture.

A government that is incapable of meeting the most basic needs of its people during a dreadful emergency is certainly unable to care for the handful of tourists and visitors who happen to have visited the country and become victims of a natural disaster. And nor is the government of a country far distant from the scene, with a handful of representatives in a huge geography of almost thirty million people, able to do much for those of its own citizens who of their own free will chose to visit a country in crisis.

"We need 15,000 plastic tarps alone. We cannot buy that number", stated Mohan Pokhran, a district disaster management committee member. A mere 50 volunteer army and police officers were distributing food and aid for thousands in the immediate vicinity. "We don't have nearly enough of anything", wailed Mr. Pokhran, helplessly.

Sheltering from the rain

Kumar Thapa's home in Paslang was destroyed. And so were the homes of the other villagers. He was placed on leave from his army unit, given time to mourn his losses. He spoke of a government official who arrived at the village, took some photographs and then left. Nothing was delivered to the village of about 300 people north of Kathmandu. The village is a mere three kilometres distant from the town of Gorkha, district headquarters and staging area for rescue and aid operations.

Damaged houses are seen from an Indian Army helicopter at Lapu in the Nepalese area of Gorkha.   Photo: AFP

The villagers sleep in the open together in the mud, sharing what bits of food they are able to extract from under their ruined buildings and homes. They cannot even begin to imagine when aid might reach them. Stormy weather is hampering passage along poor roads. A shortage of funds and volunteers to bring assistance to the needy is the order of the day. Helicopters are being co-ordinated to remote villages to evacuate the injured, but a major downpour put a halt to the effort.

A mudslide and avalanche hit close to the village of Ghodatabela leaving 250 people missing according to district official Gautam Rimaj. The result of heavy snow where the ground was loosened by the quake. Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese have no clean water, no sanitation. Rain was heavy in Kathmandu, and people desperately sought shelter wherever they could find it. Over 8.1-million people have been affected by the earthquake, with 1.4-million requiring food assistance.

So when people criticize their government for not delivering immediate aid to their loved ones halfway across the world, caught up in a devastating natural disaster, recommending to their government that they liaise with the government where the disaster has struck, to mount a rescue, they might try instead spreading their wings and undertaking flight on their own initiative, to bring back a sister who travelled to Nepal to teach yoga there.