Gorkha Earthquake Experience 2015

After the 7.8 earthquake that shook half of my nation and more than 90 percent of the houses in the rural areas crumbled in to dust, there was a zeal in every youth to help each other in times of hardship. Although there were frequent aftershocks, most of the youth came out of their comfort zone and starting helping the needy ones. Youths were so driven to help the needy ones, they were there to help the needy one even before the government was there for them.
I was also one among the thousands of youths to help my country when in need.

With the group called "Kalo Sisha",whom we met when we were distributing relief in the suburbs of Kathmandu, we went to one of the most rural part of the district called Rasuwa. As most of the relief distributions was focused on Sindhupalchowk, Gorkha and other districts, we chose Rasuwa which was not on the focus of the NGOs and the government. So with the complete strangers, whom I met few days ago I went for a survey to Rasuwa district. We were four people with 2 bikes who had to travel around 150 kms to Rasuwa. As there was very less time we had to take shortcuts which was a very road with the landslides and graveled road, our journey was more tough. We could see landslides infront of us in few places due to the aftershock. We reached place called Kalikasthan, which was connected to the main highway. It was already dark and we still had to reach our destination Langbu. Langbu is a small village which was connected by the a small road to the main highway. The road from Kalikasthan to Langbu was so bad that we had to stop every now and then to make sure that we could pass through the road. The road was so bad that we had to get off the bike and push it and throw the rocks and stone out of the way. When we reached Langbu, it was about 10:30 at night. As people had lost there life in that village they were doing their final procession with all the strange musical instruments and people crying, we felt like we were about to be sacrificed in front of all the villagers. But that was not the case, we had our dinner with the help of the villagers and we slept inside a tent.
As it was dark, we didn't notice we setup the tent underneath a huge rock which could have fallen anytime due to the aftershock. Luckily we survived that night and surveyed that morning and found we must distribute the relief to at least 1000 households. They were out of food, sleeping outside with no trampoline and with no blankets. So we contacted our group in Kathmandu and said we need atleast 1000 trampoline,blankets and food for thousand households.

After the survey we returned to Kathmandu, and whilst my friends and the volunteers were arranging and packing the foods and blankets that are to be distributed. There was a huge problem with the shortage of trampoline in the Kathmandu. So with the help of my friend he was able to send trampoline from India as he used to live closer to the border. The problem was solved with the trampoline. After we reached Kathmandu we couldn't rest and had to leave the very next day as people were running out of food and sleeping in the cold outside and monsoon was starting soon.

With more than 30 volunteers, doctors and 3 truck loads of relief and 2 vans, we again started our journey to Rasuwa. We moved at 5 in the morning and reached our destination at 11. With such huge distribution, the local authorities were worried that we could get into trouble so they decided to help us. They sent Policeman headed by the Assistant Sub-Inspector) and army headed by Warrant Officer. As people were in desperate need of help, the people really friendly and cooperated with us except a few glitches. They were given first aid and general medicines for fever, cold and diarrhea. As the packaging was done before the dispatching distributing was really easy. With the help of local volunteers, and local authorities, the distribution was completed smoothly. After finishing the distribution we came back to Kalikasthan where there were few hotels to stay in. Although all the owners were sleeping on the road side due to frequent earthquakes, we were too tired and slept inside the remaining hotels on risk. At 3 in the morning, a big aftershock whose epicenter was 3 kms away from us again shook us. Although no body got seriously injured, two of the volunteers sustained injury in the foot and in the hand as they fell down while running. Other than the few small problems, the distribution went really well and was quite a experience.

Although Nepal sustained a huge loss of lives and property, we Nepalese gained a sense of belonging with each other. We realized there is always someone to help when you fall even if you don't know them and they are not your friends or family. Whenever you are having a hard time, there will always be a bright light at the end of tunnel, there would be a sense of humanity in each of us. The humanity that we have inside of us is the thing that will always push us to move forward helping each other.