The
earthquake in Nepal
A
message from Kevin Hester
photo - Kevin Hester
via
Facebook
Thank
you everyone for the amazing outpouring of concern and love in the
aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Nepal where the confirmed
death toll has now climbed into the thousands.
Fate
can be a brutal judge, jury and executioner and we never know when it
will come for us or those we love.
30
yrs after my first visit I returned to Nepal recently and had another
amazing journey around the top of the world and became re-acquainted
with the unique and wonderful people of Nepal.The people we met via
Ace the Himalaya to date seem to be physically ok but their entire
lives have been thrown into chaos with Madan Kandel losing his home
in the village where he comes from and Prem K Khatry's last post to
date is that he was " outside his home looking for a safe place
to spend the night"
The
country has now been devastated both physically and physiologically
and those of us with experience of the terrible consequences of the
Christchurch earthquake here in NZ will know that the scars of this
event will never completely heal as having the earth shake beneath
your feet is a very unsettling phenomenon.
I
commented a lot during the trip about the amount of poverty in the
country and how the infrastructure was stretched to breaking point in
a city that had grown exponentially over the 30 years since I had
first started visiting.
That
infrastructure has now been devastated and the population of
Kathmandu face an enormous challenge and will need our help.
As
most of you will be aware I follow closely the unfolding ecological
collapse of our biosphere as a result of anthropogenic climate change
and myself and others believe we are staring down the barrel of what
we have come to call #Thegreatunraveling.
What
you see this morning unfolding in Nepal is coming to us all in the
not too distant future and vastly sooner than most people would
believe.
photo - Kevin Hester
Today
in Kathmandu the power and water will not be flowing, many of the
streets will be blocked with rubble, the underground services like
water and sewerage will be destroyed and the emergency
services,already spartan will be stretched well beyond their limited
capacity and the suffering will be immeasurable.
Oxfam,
Medecins sans Frontiers and other aid organisations are mounting
relief campaigns and are seeking our help and I ask that if you can
that you choose one and do / give whatever you can.
I
am at home at Rakino Island safe and sound but by the 'skin of my
teeth' as I could obviously be lying beneath a pile of rubble in
Kathmandu, such is the good luck I have experienced all of my life.
Please
forgive me if I don't respond to all of your p.m's and posts on my
wall as I am feeling a little overwhelmed in many ways.
In
a time like this " Only love remains".
The Kathmandu valley - photo - Kevin Hester
Thanks Kevin. I value your comments.
ReplyDeleteYou are an awesome man and grandfather Harold, Respect.
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