Nepal quake
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- Date published:
9:37 am, April 26th, 2015 - 17 comments
Categories: disaster, International -
Tags: earthquake, nepal
As is all over the news this morning, Nepal and surrounding areas have been hit by a severe quake. At time of writing there are over 1,100 confirmed dead, a toll that is likely to rise.
I’m sure all our thoughts are with those affected. (Mine are in particular with an old friend from Chch who is currently in Kathmandu.) Given the links between our countries, and now our shared experience of the devastation of quakes, I hope to see NZ contributing significantly to relief and rebuild efforts.
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Yes, I have friends over there at the moment, in the mountains – haven’t heard from them but the news coming out is so terrible.
The only plea I have is let’s make it about the people who live there and who have lost everything rather than about the visitors. Yes I want to know about my friends who I love – but I don’t want everything framed around how many kiwis are affected.
“The only plea I have is let’s make it about the people who live there and who have lost everything rather than about the visitors.”
Agreed marty mars.
Last night we saw the story on Al Jazeera. It was the footage obtained just 3 hours after the quake. At that early stage the focus was largely on the population of the area with a sideline mention of tourists who were in one of the temple towers as the quake struck.
Appropriate reporting I thought. Often media concern with ourselves in overseas disaster areas, comes into the foreground at the expense of the locals, which has the appearance of being insensitive and minimising of their trauma.
I also really hope aid and support can make it through efficiently.
Much love to those injured and those grieving.
+100 Marty and Rosie .,. I fear there is little good news to come from Nepal. I posted on OM about footage I saw last night from Pokhara close to the epicentre … only devastation can surround them.
I pray the politics do not become even more messy between India and China. China has been hugely increasing its influence in Nepal. Not the only reason, but Kathmandu is home to a substantial Tibetan Buddhist community escaped from Tibet, who provide many local economic benefits with tourism etc. The Chinese govt wishes to undo this influence as quickly and as ruthlessly as is necessary.
You might be aware the Chinese govt recently announced plans to build a road tunnel under the Himalayas from Beijing direct to Kathmandu .. this can only mean increased sinocisation across the whole region where Maoist rebels have already made many areas unsafe for visitors.
It will become a vile tragedy if this awful earthquake hastens their takeover.
Waiting with you for better news … arohanui to them all.
marty, anthony and others .. perhaps this is useful ….
Tech companies have also been attempting to deploy their services to help with communications with those in affected areas of Nepal.
Google has launched its “person finder” tool that allows people to provide information if they are looking for someone, or if they have information about the whereabouts of a person. The tool is designed to help people find each other in the aftermath of a humanitarian crisis.
Facebook is also using a new tool called “safety check”. It’s a quick way for a user who is in an affected area to provide an update about their safety that will be pushed to their friends’ notifications on Facebook.
Mark Zuckerberg has written a post outlining the way the tool operates, and offering his condolences to those caught up in the quake.
http://google.org/personfinder/global/home.html
and the mark zuckerberg link:
https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10102050030813611?pnref=story
Many comments beneath it suggest it is being very successful.
Thanks yeshe
One family group accounted for – they left the mountain a day ago, now in Pokhara. Still waiting on another friend…
Good news for you … any news of how Pokhara is ? I could only find one image which was simply terrifying .. whereas Christchurch mainly moved horizontally, the image from Pokhara suggested it was major vertical drops.
Hope your other friend ‘comes’ in soon. Cheers Marty.
My good friend kate is safe and just wants to get home now to the UK and her kids. She described it as a nightmare. Haven’t heard much else but nightmare is probably accurate.
Thank the Goddess for facebook – would have been weeks to find out anything a few years ago
good news for you marty .. awesome. many of mine are at mountain monastaries/nunneries, so not muchn news in yet.
Happy to read that India Prime Minister has promised to “dry Nepal’s tears”.
major 6.7 aftershock about forty minutes ago .. very scary for them, but at least it’s daylight now.
Nepal has had enough problems with the stability of their nascent democracy. One of the main landmarks of Kathmandu, Dharara tower, has collapsed. Death toll now up to 1400.
From the UNDP Chair:
rawshark-yeshe: Leave the politics out of it. This is a massive human tragedy, wherever you sit.
I saw people scaling vertical heights without rope or other means of safety bearing a heavy load of wood on their backs supported merely by a head-band.
Westerners may marvel at the exoticism but these are conditions which should not be endured in any civilised country. Medieval ? Worse ..
Of course it is and I think you misunderstand what I wrote. I have spent a lot of time in Nepal, almost like a second home for me. I do not ‘marvel at exoticism’.
Be assured I am not the one who will seek to politicise it, that’s my whole point.