25th April 2015, Saturday, suddenly became a day to remember in the Nepalese history on 11:56 am. A rocking magnitude of 7.8 Richter scale hit Nepal bringing down most of its cultural heritage which were in the core areas of major cities like Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. The number of lives lost till now has been recorded as 8020 (source: www.ekantipur.com) and still counting, with an expectation of it to go even higher in the days to come.
Although the loss of thousands of lives in itself is sad, the loss of the cultural heritages, some listed in UNESCO’s list of World Heritage, is equally depressing. The country is not only in bereavement due to the loss of lives but the difficulty most will face now due to the destruction of those heritages which served as a means of livelihood for a lot and source of revenue for the nation as it played a crucial role in Nepal’s tourism sector.
However, the Nepalese aren’t backing down. Everyone, from the old to the kids, are helping out with whatever resources they have with them. Such is the spirit of the Gurkhas, the people from the land of the Himalayas.
And in this spirit, the Habitat for Humanity International Nepal Disaster Response (DR) Team along with people from volunteer organizations like Nepal Scouts, students from NATHM College and from other varied sectors have come together to enforce their spirits with whatever resources we have at hand.
We have removed most of the rubble in the Harisiddhi area of Lalitpur, one of the most hit areas of the district and plan to move ahead with rubble removal at other areas of need.
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HFH - Nepal staff along with volunteers clearing rubble at Nibha of Harisiddhi in Lalitpur district |
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| Volunteers passing the collected rubble in trays to speed up work |
