Strong and Resilient:
Nepali Recovered from the shock of Earthquake Immediate
In Jorsalle, a tiny town located along Dudh Koshi River in
Everest region before Namchebazar, we were waiting for our lunch to be served. Suddenly,
we experienced a tremor of earthquake. We screamed. We ran away to possible safer
places. Some mothers appeared in the yard carrying baby in their laps. Alas!
tremble was not that strong. It was for very short moment and 5.1 Richter scale
only.
My South African clients exclaimed to me, Oh ! You also run
away? Are you afraid of this tremor?
I replied, can’t we be frightened? Should we pretend as if
we are fearless or show we are heroic?
We, Nepali, were recovering gradually from the great shock
of 2015 April’s Gorkha earthquake that measured close to 8 Richter scale. Even
in 2019, we were getting aftershocks quite regularly though of smaller scales,
and less destructive.
In April 25, 2014 Nepal’s part of the earth was under huge
jolt. The total death toll was 9000 and more than 22,000 were injured. At the
Base Camp site of Mt. Everest, 21 climbers and their supporters were buried due
to avalanche from the mount Pumori. Similarly, the deadliest of all was the
Langtang valley avalanche in which entire village was buried with death/missing
toll almost unknown, and unrecorded. The aftershocks continued to shake the
parts of Nepal for one complete year in quick intervals, and in longer
intervals then after until 2019. During this period, our earth shook, our body
shook, our buildings where we were in shook, our heart shook, and everything
shook what we had.
Should not we be afraid just because we are Nepali? I think,
yes we can.
But, the resilient power of Nepali is noteworthy. It does
not mean whether we are frightened or not. It is the matter of how we recover,
and start our life soon.
During the earthquake (April 25, 2015), I was heading
towards Gokyo Lake, in Gokyo Valley of Everest region. We were six in a group.
Three South African clients: Neels, Zetty, and Nicolette from Pretoria, myself,
and two support staffs. We were in a narrow uphill cliff walking slowly. Immediate after the earthquake we
experienced, we came across with rain of stone pieces chopped off from the cliff
towards us, towards our head. Some were as big as forty-fifty kilograms. We
were lucky enough ourselves. None of us were injured.
You may be interested to read account of what happened and
how was the situation with us here.
On the way back we checked in to the same lodge where we
slept the night before earthquake i.e. on 24th of April. All the expensive
property was destroyed and heavily damaged. Family was in the tent. Old lady
owner kindly requested us to rest a while and have a cup of tea/coffee. They
had begun their life already. As we walked on, all the villagers were already
in a normal life to our utter surprise. Deaths of people were less in the region,
so it might have been different than other parts of the country where many
families lost their loved ones. But, still surprising to see the normal life
back in less than a week.
Sociologist and social worker Katrin Tinihermsen has
mentioned in her newspaper article published in The Himalayan Times on June 22,
2015 issue that “In the case of Nepal, the number of individuals who
transformed their feelings into action towards the wellbeing of others was and
is enormous… They went to their neighbors, communities, from the city of
Kathmandu to remote places, places where they have probably never been before.”
In the process the feeling of togetherness, help, hope was shown.
When I visited South Africa later same year of earthquake,
Neels was saying to me that you people from Nepal are so strong and resilient.
You all coped with such a huge disaster in a way that not people from other
countries would have been done. If this had happened in South Africa itself,
thousands of people would have been in psychiatrists, psychologists.
What could have made Nepali people so strong and resilient ?
Neels guessed. Mountain life.
A young girl of twelve-thirteen years walks/walked to famous
Hillary School (established by sir Edmund Hillary) everyday from Namchebazar. It
normally takes us 3 to 4 hours to reach the school during our acclimatization
walk day. Isn’t it surprising?
A porter walks with us to Tengboche from Namchebazar
together with normally 100 to 120 Kg (220 – 265 lbs) in his back. Doesn’t this
fact bring goosebumps on you?
Probably, the nature of living and life makes Nepali strong
and resilient.
