Nepalese police personnel carry Pemba Tamang, 15, on a stretcher after his rescue from a destroyed hotel building in Kathmandu on April 30, 2015, bringing a rare moment of joy to the earthquake-hit city.
Half a million tents are urgently needed for the huge number of people forced from their homes by Nepal’s devastating earthquake, a government minister has said.
Minendra Rijal, Nepal’s minister of information and communications, said relief operations were underway but that much more needs to be done.
“Life is returning to normal, but it will be some time to be completely normal,” he said on Wednesday. “We have still not been able to properly manage to provide relief.”
Rijal wasn’t able to put a precise number on those made homeless by Saturday’s devastating quake, but he said the government had so far provided more than 4,700 tents and 22,000 tarpaulins to those in need of shelter.
The sprawling tent city in Kathmandu’s Ratna Park feels less like a temporary solution and more like a permanent residence with each passing day.
Days after the earthquake struck Nepal, hundreds in the makeshift encampment fear they will be stuck here much longer.
Sturdy military tents ring the outside of Ratna Park, but no such structure exists within the middle of the field. Here there are just tarps and bamboo poles.
Inside, families have set up propane tanks and stoves to cook whatever food they have. They pass the time however they can, knowing they have no home to which they can return.
Some homes were destroyed in the earthquake. Others suffered structural damage and are effectively unliveable.
As international aid trickles into Nepal, the citizens of Tent City wait for it to make its way to them.
Many have lost faith in their own government to provide help and food. Instead, they believe their best hope lies with the supplies and aid pouring in from overseas.
Children play cricket or soccer in open areas of the park offering a bit of laughter at time of great difficulty. Their parents, meanwhile, wonder where the next meal will come from. And when it will come.
Aircraft loaded with tents are expected from India and Thailand in the next day, he said, with another 100,000 tents expected from Pakistan.
Two UNICEF flights arrived Wednesday with supplies such as water-purification tablets, family hygiene kits and tents and tarps.
UNICEF Regional Communication Advisor Jean-Jacques Simon said the supplies “are desperately needed by those living in camps, and other areas in Kathmandu, the Kathmandu Valley and in hard-to-reach remote areas, where UNICEF plans to distribute the items as soon as possible.”
The United Nations has said the quake has affected 8 million people across 39 districts.
Rijal said 21 helicopters, including seven provided by India, were helping in the rescue and relief efforts, with 866 people rescued by air and a little more than 1,000 rescued using land transport.
As rescue workers seek to reach people who desperately need help, the weather is making things worse.
Heavy rain has intensified the hardships for the countless Nepalis who are sleeping out in the open because their homes were destroyed or they don’t feel safe inside buildings amid continuing aftershocks.
At Tundhikal Park, known now as Tent City, the crowds are thinning, but it’s not necessarily a sign of improvement.
On Wednesday, some had enough of sleeping huddled in a tent and were readying to return to their houses. That’s the correct term — houses; they were no longer homes, no longer places of sanctuary.
US President Barack Obama called Prime Minister Sushil Koirala on Wednesday to express condolences, the White House said. This is the first time Obama has spoken with the Prime Minister since Saturday’s first earthquake.
Obama and he talked about disaster response efforts and Obama pledged that the United States “will do all that it can to help the people of Nepal in their time of need,” the White House said.
VITAL SUPPLIES
In the district of Gorkha, where the magnitude-7.8 quake was centered, a large storm rumbled over the mountainous terrain Tuesday afternoon.
“That essentially shut down helicopter missions for the entire afternoon, except for a small window before sunset,” Matt Darvas, an emergency communications officer for the humanitarian group World Vision, told CNN on Wednesday. He’s currently in the main town in Gorkha.
But signs of improvement can be found.
Outside the walls of Ranta Park’s tent city, the streets are beginning to come back to life. Small groups work together to clear sidewalks and roads of rubble after the earthquake. Cars and motorbikes buzz down the streets, while shops reopen for business. Street vendors are out once again.
But Ranta Park is still a grim place There are few signs of activity here, as families wait for some change in the status quo.
MAKESHIFT FIELD HOSPITAL
Some 5,489 people were confirmed dead as of yesterday morning as a result of the massive earthquake, with another 11,440 injured, Nepal’s National Emergency Coordination Center told CNN. Officials have warned the death toll is expected to rise.
Nineteen of the deaths occurred on Mount Everest, where the tremors set off deadly avalanches, the Nepal Mountaineering Association said.
Two neighbouring countries, India and China, have reported totals of 72 and 25 deaths from the quake, respectively.
The frequent downpours in Nepal have made it harder for emergency workers to help the injured.
VILLAGERS CUT OFF FROM FAMILIES
Many people are stuck at the main town in Gorkha, unable to reach their families in villages cut off by the earthquake.
They include Kumar Gurung, a 37-year-old man who has had no word from his wife and four children since the hours after the quake, according to Darvas.
Gurung was on his way to a town 80km away for an animal health training course when the earthquake threw his plans into chaos.
Now he can’t get back to his village, Singla, which is perched on a mountain above a cliff face and would take days to reach after landslides blocked roads. Before he lost contact with them, the people in his village told him that at least 70% of the dwellings in the village had been destroyed.
Darvas said that Gurung told him: “I am incredibly sad about this situation and want to rescue not just my family but all of my friends in the village, but I don’t know what to do or how to reach them.”
Local leaders in the main town in Gorkha are “absolutely exhausted and totally stretched” as they try to deal with the crisis in their district, Darvas said.
Their difficulties are being shared by other officials across Nepal. An influx of international aid is struggling to find its way to many of the people in need. Officials have reported logjams at Kathmandu’s airport as well as on the way to badly affected areas.
Source: The Daily Star
