Sunday 3 May 2015

Just another earthquake.

It's over a week since Nepal was rocked to its foundations. That first flush of horror has passed. The journalists are beginning to pack their bags. It is no longer 'new'.

I will not claim that this disaster is worse than any other. Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, landslides: they all leave people - real people like you and me - living in tents and begging for water. But I can talk about Nepal because it is a country I know and love.

A bit about the history - Nepal has never been invaded, because it has no resources that anyone else is interested in plundering. No oil. No gold no diamonds no uranium. (Or if it has, it is hidden so deep inside the mountains that no one knows). But this means no investment. Few foreign governments help impoverished countries unless there is something in it for them. In addition, the administration is still practising democracy after years of Maoist insurgency and the end of the monarchy so all organisations are a bit hit and miss.

On top of that they have welcomed refugees from Tibet and Kashmir - without making a performance of it. So there's no Farage-equivalent bleating about foreigners.

The lack of rural employment means that many men from the countryside have left to work in Kathmandu or the cities of north India or the Middle East, leaving the women to run small farms. Many villages are largely comprised of women, children and older people, all working their socks off to get by. They live in tiny cottages that cling to the mountainside:



The only way to reach some of these villages is paths like this:


And some are so remote that it takes several days trekking to reach them.

Meanwhile, in Kathmandu, the young men are crowded in tiny, often insanitary, apartments. If there are regulations regarding construction they don't reach streets like this one:


In the middle of all this Nepali chaos is the wonderful Durbur Square, with its temples and palaces and space for people to wander. It is Kathmandu's Trafalgar Square and Westminster Abbey and St Paul's and  Borough Market all rolled into one. There are small shops set into the walls:


And magnificent temples where the faithful go to pray.


I cannot bear to use the past tense for all this. I know so much of it is rubble. That these brave, generous, impoverished people are still living in the streets, dependent on the generosity of you and I.

The men will rebuilt their homes and their temples. The women in the villages will till their misshapen fields. They will send their children to school.

While we can only sit back and feel helpless.

10 comments:

  1. Oh Jo this is painful. . Your pictures are vivid and for me they convey very well what the place is like, particularly that path. I feel a similarly sad about Syria. Such extremely nice people who were struggling cheerfully to get by, mostly, kind and hospitable. It is beyond absorbing really. I have donated to Mandala Trust which you tweeted about, which is doing something to help. Of course that is a tiny speck of help and we are indeed helpless. Thanks for the post. Almost every day now I realise how lucky we are.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many thanks for supporting the Mandala Trust. I know every penny will be spent where it is most needed.
      And yes, we is humbling to reflect on how cushioned we are from so many of the world's horrors.

      Delete
  2. Maybe, just maybe, there can be an influx of money and support to rebuild on the site of those previously precarious buildings that you've shown in the 3rd photo and replace them with safer, better housing, or am I being unrealistic?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Probably unrealistic, Ros. They need homes as soon as possible - so shacks will go up, and probably be used for decades. But you never know, someone may be altruistic and rich enough to build something stronger for them.

      Delete
  3. So, so sad, and puts our cossetted and unthreatened lives in perspective. I do hope your friends manage to rebuild and restart their shattered lives, and I feel such sorrow for them and for your frustration in not being there to comfort and help. x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have no idea, do we Carol, just what life is like elsewhere? While we wonder whether to have a latte or a cappuccino, they don't have enough water.

      Delete
  4. Yes, this is awful. And feeling helpless is gruesome.
    A friend of mine runs a small charity in co-operation with a Nepali women's organisation. They support single mothers in remote villages in Nepal/Mustang mainly by giving them watter buffalo, donkeys or naks (female yak) so that they can become more independent etc. They also train midwives and doulas, and supply them with ponies, the best mode of transport in these remore areas. (http://www.self-help-by-donkeys.org/info.html)

    My friend tells me that, after talking this through with her Nepali friends, at this moment in time, donations should really go to the large and trusted organisations who are skilled in emergency aid. Once the first results of this aid have come in, help to help themselves can start again through whatever organisation or trust you may know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for this - I've has different advice about giving at the moment. The Mandala Trust has links to a small health centre which is desperate - and I know the money goes straight to the people who need it. I suppose it depends on knowing someone on the ground. I'd trust Mandala - but then I know them.

      Delete
  5. Many, many thanks for your post. It's one of those articles that should be printed in a major, national newspaper or magazine. You offer a whole different perspective of this beautiful country which I would like to visit one day. Thanks. That photo of the buildings about to collapse reminds of Havana and sadly due to the recent rains many buildings have come down.

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Such a sad thing to contemplate, isn't it, especially for someone like you who has been there. Thank you for sharing your insight.

    ReplyDelete