Tragic. :(
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/nepal-earthquake-magnitude-7-9-tremor-hits-kathmandu-n348236
QuoteA powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on Saturday, killing hundreds, destroying homes and ancient temples, and triggering at least one avalanche on Mount Everest.
A police official said 449 people have been confirmed dead in Nepal, The Associated Press reported. Some 30 died in neighboring countries where the quake was felt, including 20 in India, AP added.
Reuters reported that 688 people had died, quoting a senior home ministry source. There was no explanation for the different estimates and NBC News was not able to immediately confirm the death toll.
Climbers on Mount Everest were sent running for their lives when the earthquake set off at least one avalanche. At least eight people died and more than two dozen were injured in the avalanche on the world's highest mountain, according to The Associated Press. Below, climbers and mountaineers describe the horrific events.
"A massive earthquake just hit Everest. Basecamp has been severely damaged. Our team is caught in camp 1. Please pray for everyone," mountaineer Daniel Mazur tweeted hours after the quake.
Quote
Alex Gavan
@AlexGAVAN
Everest base camp huge earthquaqe then huge avalanche from pumori.Running for life from my tent. Unhurt. Many many people up the mountain.
There was little information coming from the outlying areas of the mountainous country and helicopters were circling overheard to get a better sense of the damage.
"We are totally cut off from most parts of our country," Ram Narayan Pandey of the Nepal Disaster Management Authority said according to Reuters.
Shristi Mainali described the terrifying moment the earthquake hit Kathmandu just before noon local time (2:15 a.m. ET).
"It was a sound like thunder," the 21-year-old nursing student told NBC News. "It lasted for more than a minute... it was really shaking shaking shaking."
Residents in her neighborhood in Kathmandu had fled their homes after the initial earthquake and a series of strong aftershocks, Mainali said.
"They are terrified that the aftershocks may come again," she said. "We are staying away from big walls, sitting in the middle of the road."
Many buildings were destroyed in the center Old Kathmandu, including ancient temples and towers, resident Prachanda Sual told The Associated Press. The old part of Kathmandu city is a densely packed warren of lanes with poorly built homes crowded closely together.
In China, hundreds of soldiers belonging to the Shigatse military garrison rushed to the border to help with the rescue, according to Chinese Liberation Daily.
The U.S.G.S. revised up the size of the earthquake, which was felt in neighboring India and Pakistan, from an initial 7.5-magnitude estimate.
— F. Brinley Bruton with The Associated Press and Reuters.
First published April 25th 2015, 4:00 pm
It must be a nightmare for those trapped on Everest. They're doomed and they'll probably descend into canabalism before they freeze to death. :(
http://www.wsj.com/articles/nepal-earthquake-rescuers-hunt-for-survivors-as-death-toll-rises-1430032637
Quote
By
Jesse Pesta And Niharika Mandhana
Updated April 26, 2015 1:48 p.m. ET
KATMANDU, Nepal—Residents of the earthquake-hit Nepalese capital huddled in the dark beneath plastic tarps in streets and parks Sunday night, after a day in which soldiers and police dug, often by hand, in the rubble of collapsed buildings to rescue survivors.
More than 2,400 people were confirmed dead after Saturday's 7.8-magnitude quake, which devastated a broad swath of the Himalayan nation, severely damaging the historic heart of Katmandu, flattening remote villages and triggering an avalanche on Mount Everest.
"It's a very desperate situation," a spokesman for Nepal's national police, Kamal Singh Bam, said Sunday. "The death toll is very high and it will go up even more. Rescue operations are slow because we don't have all the proper facilities."
The scale of the disaster poses a major challenge for the government of Nepal, one of the world's poorest and least-developed countries. It also delivered a significant blow to the small nation's already slow-growing economy.
"It will take many months just to get back to normalcy," said Krishna Prasad Dhakal, deputy chief of mission at Nepal's embassy in New Delhi.
A large, 6.7-magnitude aftershock—strong enough to shake buildings 700 miles away in the Indian capital, New Delhi—hit Sunday afternoon, sowing panic and causing more destruction and injury, police and witnesses said.
Fear of further temblors kept many people outdoors in Katmandu and the surrounding valley, home to more than 2.5 million people, despite rain Sunday night.
Dozens of patients slept in makeshift tents pitched in front of the Om Hospital and Research Centre in Katmandu. "I wanted to come out here because we feared the quake would repeat," said Hyat Mohammad, who suffered a broken hip.
Others camped out on the hospital porch or bedded down on the floor of the entrance hall. A family was wrapped in a pink-and-purple blanket emblazoned with the words "Best Wishes." One woman had broken both her legs when her stone house collapsed on top of her.
By Sunday night, the official police death toll stood at 2,482, but officials said they expected it to rise as search teams reached more-remote areas. More than 6,100 people were injured.
Jamie McGoldrick, the United Nations resident coordinator in Nepal, said local hospitals were overstretched and in need of medical supplies. There are "very challenging scenes right now as we try to determine rescue efforts," he said.
Hundreds of Indian soldiers and disaster-response personnel flew into Nepal over the weekend to help, bringing with them field hospitals, relief supplies, excavators and other equipment. A Chinese search-and-rescue team also arrived.
But progress was hard to gauge, given the scope of the damage, the police spokesman, Mr. Bam, said. On Sunday, Nepalese army and police teams focused on the Katmandu Valley, and it could be days before rescue specialists reached remote and mountainous areas, he said.
Uddav Timilsina, chief district officer of Gorkha, near the quake's epicenter, said Sunday that thousands of homes were destroyed and 80% of schools razed. He said 500 police and soldiers were hunting for survivors and recovering bodies of the dead.
"We are getting reports that 10 people are missing here, 50 people are missing there," Mr. Timilsina said. "But it is very, very difficult to say what is actually the situation on the ground."
He said large parts of his district, particularly those in remote and mountainous areas, remained cut off. Landslides, which Mr. Timilsina said continued Sunday morning, blocked roads and endangered rescue teams.
"Phone lines are down, there is no access, we don't have any data from there right now," he said.
The quakes triggered an avalanche that killed 17 people and injured more than 60 on Mount Everest. International mountaineers and local guides were at a base camp on the mountain, preparing for ascents of the world's highest peak.
Authorities in neighboring India said more than 60 people had died there as a result of the quake. Across the border in China, 18 died, according to government news agency Xinhua. Four Chinese nationals were among the dead in Nepal, Xinhua said.
On Saturday, Sushil Chaudhari, a 42-year-old human-rights activist in Katmandu, said he watched in horror as the nine-story Dharahara tower in Katmandu's center collapsed with his wife's 16-year-old nephew, who had just finished high-school exams, inside.
When the quake hit, "there was no time to think or react. It just fell, just like that," Mr. Chaudhari said. "I was paralyzed, people were screaming. I saw people die right in front of my eyes." Mr. Chaudhari found his young relative's body buried under broken bits of the tower.
Historic neighborhoods of Nepal's capital were among the most damaged parts of the city, as some of the country's oldest buildings crumbled, leaving piles of old bricks.
Katmandu and its suburbs are full of centuries-old historical sites, including temples, palaces and courtyards, many of them more than 300 years old. Seven areas of the Katmandu Valley are protected as a Unesco World Heritage site.
The U.S. Geological Survey revised the magnitude of the initial quake to 7.8 from an earlier estimate of 7.9 on Saturday. The epicenter was about 50 miles northwest of Katmandu.
The quake struck in what is known as the Indus-Yarlung suture zone, where the Indian subcontinent meets the Eurasian tectonic plate. The collision of the two, 40 million to 50 million years ago, gave rise to the Himalayas.
It is an area that has been the site of some of the region's deadliest earthquakes, including one in Kashmir in 2005 that killed more than 80,000 people. A massive earthquake also struck Nepal in 1934, causing mass casualties.
Besides China and India, other Asian countries, including Japan, Singapore and Malaysia, are sending search-and-rescue teams to Nepal. South Korea offered $1 million in emergency relief aid, while Taiwan pledged $300,000.
Meanwhile, Nepalese living abroad tried frantically to get in touch with family back home. Veerman Tamang, a 28-year-old who works in a Delhi restaurant said he was preparing to head back to his home village in Nepal by bus, a trip that under normal conditions takes 36 hours. Mr. Tamang and his wife, Pooja, said they managed to reach a relative by phone briefly after Saturday's quake. He said his father had been pulled from the rubble with injuries to his head and arm. "I wasn't able to speak to my mother. I want to make sure she is alive," Mr. Tamang said.
—Raymond Zhong,
Krishna Pokharel,
and Suryatapa Bhattacharya
contributed to this article.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on April 26, 2015, 06:31:29 PM
It must be a nightmare for those trapped on Everest. They're doomed and they'll probably descend into canabalism before they freeze to death. :(
Is Tim trying to be funny?
I'm confused. The people above base camp on everest will have the gear to deal with the cold and they won't be more than a day or two at most away from base camp. Base camp is an easy hike to a village a couple hours away with lodging and restaurants.
Quote from: alfred russel on April 26, 2015, 06:44:40 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on April 26, 2015, 06:31:29 PM
It must be a nightmare for those trapped on Everest. They're doomed and they'll probably descend into canabalism before they freeze to death. :(
Is Tim trying to be funny?
I'm confused. The people above base camp on everest will have the gear to deal with the cold and they won't be more than a day or two at most away from base camp. Base camp is an easy hike to a village a couple hours away with lodging and restaurants.
Yeah, that joke is definitely too soon. I dread going to school tomorrow and hearing about deaths among the relatives of the three Nepalese families I know.
This joke may have failed, but Tim is still funnier than Jeff Ross.
Nah, Jokes are funny. That's how you know Tim is never joking, he's never funny.
Quote from: alfred russel on April 26, 2015, 06:44:40 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on April 26, 2015, 06:31:29 PM
It must be a nightmare for those trapped on Everest. They're doomed and they'll probably descend into canabalism before they freeze to death. :(
Is Tim trying to be funny?
I'm confused. The people above base camp on everest will have the gear to deal with the cold and they won't be more than a day or two at most away from base camp. Base camp is an easy hike to a village a couple hours away with lodging and restaurants.
They're trapped above the Khumbu icefall, and operating a helicopter at such altitudes is difficult in the best of time.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on April 26, 2015, 10:22:08 PM
They're trapped above the Khumbu icefall, and operating a helicopter at such altitudes is difficult in the best of time.
The Khumba icefall isn't that high up, they should be able to stay almost indefinitely without freezing to death. It also isn't very difficult to pass through. Someone just needs to set a path with ropes and ladders.
The major risk is avalanches while they wait. Altitude sickness shouldn't be a problem because the icefall is barely above basecamp. Which of course helicopters are regularly in and out of.
:(
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/climbers-trapped-on-mount-everest-are-getting-desperate/2015/04/26/68ec0765-9303-4aec-b7ec-f031cdae42fc_story.html
QuoteClimbers trapped on Mount Everest 'are getting desperate'
By Annie Gowen April 26 at 11:06 PM
ITANAGAR, India — Helicopter teams began evacuating critically injured climbers at Mount Everest's base camp Sunday morning, but the effort came to an abrupt halt when a significant new aftershock triggered more avalanches and fears of additional casualties at the world's highest peak.
Dozens of climbers and Sherpas, their Nepali guides, remain trapped on the side of the mountain at two camps that sit above where the avalanche fell, climbers said in tweets and other social-media posts. Ropes and other equipment left in place to help them descend had been swept away in Saturday's avalanche.
Daniel Mazur, a climber trapped at Camp 1, tweeted Sunday "Aftershock @ 1 pm! Horrible here in camp 1 Avalanches on 3 sides. C1 [Camp 1] a tiny island. We worry about the icefall team below. Alive?"
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Col. Rohan Anand, a spokesman for the Indian army, which had a mountaineering team training on Everest at the time of the disaster, said the rescue effort also has been hampered by communications difficulties and weather. The aftershock occurred around 1 p.m. Nepal time Sunday and registered 6.7 on the Richter scale, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The army said that 19 people had died at the Everest base camp Saturday after an enormous sweep of ice, rocks and snow tumbled toward the camp in an avalanche triggered by Nepal's deadly earthquake, which has killed more than 3,200 in the country so far. The army had rescued 61 climbers, mostly foreign tourists.
The wind that accompanied the avalanche "completely pulverized and blew the camp away," American climber Jon Kedrowski, who was at the base camp, wrote on his blog Sunday. "Many of the injuries were similar to ones you might see in the Midwest when a tornado hits, with contusions and lacerations from flying debris. Head injuries, broken legs, internal injuries, impalements also happened to people. Some people were picked up and tossed across the glacier for a hundred yards."
He continued: "People in tents were wrapped up in them, lifted by the force of the blast and then slammed down onto rocks, glacial moraine and ice on the glacier."
Rescue helicopters had begun to land at the base camp — which is used by hundreds of climbers as the starting point for Everest ascents during peak climbing season — in the morning, after the weather cleared and the sun peeped through the clouds. This gave rescuers an opportunity to ferry about 50 of the most critically wounded — climbers and Sherpas — to safety.
Xinhua News Agency reported that more than 400 mountaineers on the north side of Mount Everest were safe, quoting the sports administration of Tibet. There was an avalanche near the north side of the North Col, but it didn't hit any of them.
But the continued seismic activities halted rescue operations.
A Danish climber, Carsten Lillelund Pedersen, wrote in a Facebook message exchange with The Washington Post that the injured have been evacuated but that the dead remain.
"It's very tragic, we have many climbers and Sherpas stuck higher up in camp 1 and 2. . . . And they are getting desperate," he wrote in the message.
Another climber, Alex Gavan, tweeted that base camp had grown quiet, taking on the look of an aftermath of a nuclear blast, with "great desolation" and "high uncertainty" among those who remained.
One section was especially hard hit, a Dutch climber named Eric Arnold wrote on his blog. "There was hardly anything left. I see very personal stuff, a log book, shampoo, slippers, reading glasses, everything."
The jittery survivors rushed out of the dining tent every time they felt a shock Sunday, Arnold wrote. "Fear has got the better of us."
At any point during peak climbing season, more than 1,500 people can inhabit Everest base camp, including climbers, Sherpa guides, porters and other staff, said Eric Johnson, a Montana emergency physician who sits on the board of Everest ER, which runs a clinic there. It's difficult to know how many climbers are trapped on the mountain — or how many may have perished during the avalanche near or in its perilous Khumbu icefall, Johnson said. Sixteen Sherpas were killed in an avalanche at Everest last year.
Dan Richards, the chief executive of the travel risk and crisis management firm Global Rescue in Boston, said that his company has about three dozen mountaineering clients who had been near or around Everest at the time of avalanche. Six are unaccounted for, and eight remained trapped on the mountain in the camps above where the avalanche started.
"They're up there. They're well supplied, and they're safe, but they're not able to descend," Richards said. His firm hopes to be able to rescue the trapped climbers via helicopter as soon as circumstances on the ground permit, he said.
Mrigakshi Shukla in New Delhi contributed to this report.
Yeah, the immediate danger is another avalanche for those stuck above the icefall.
But getting back down could be a problem for some of them - climbing through the icefall without the ropes and ladders setup by the guides is more technically difficult than the everest climb itself, and there are likely plenty who could not do so safely.
But they aren't going to be up there Donner partying each other anytime soon - Camp 1 (which they can all climb down to) is low enough for near permanent habitation. Those who are already injured will be in trouble.
Over 3200 dead :(
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/nepal-earthquake/aid-arrives-nepal-after-devastating-earthquake-n348431
Quote from: Berkut on April 26, 2015, 11:14:00 PM
Yeah, the immediate danger is another avalanche for those stuck above the icefall.
But getting back down could be a problem for some of them - climbing through the icefall without the ropes and ladders setup by the guides is more technically difficult than the everest climb itself, and there are likely plenty who could not do so safely.
But they aren't going to be up there Donner partying each other anytime soon - Camp 1 (which they can all climb down to) is low enough for near permanent habitation. Those who are already injured will be in trouble.
I'd think those that were injured could be flown out without much trouble.
I'm not sure you can cross the icefall without ladders. If a crevasse is too large to jump, using a ladder is the standard way to cross. All the videos and stories of the icefall involve crossing crevasses with ladders, but I don't know whether that is because it is the only way to cross or because simply easier and safer to cross with ladders than to walk around the crevasses (safer because the longer you are in the icefall the more exposure you have to avalanches/collapses of snowbridges/other hazards).
I suspect being IN the icefall when a aftershock hits, ladders or no ladders, would rather suck in a fatal way...
It is possible to helicopter into Camp 1, but it is dangerous itself - it is ride on the edge of where helicopters can really operate. Indeed, for a long time it was considered beyond that edge.
The other problem is simply resources. Nepal is almost certainly a mess right now - are the lives of those stuck on Everest more important than the lives of those NOT stuck on Everest? Maybe not even an issue.
So when does the cannibalism start? :hmm:
Quote from: Berkut on April 27, 2015, 10:13:14 AM
It is possible to helicopter into Camp 1, but it is dangerous itself - it is ridge on the edge of where helicopters can really operate. Indeed, for a long time it was considered beyond that edge.
It is definitely above the comfort zone for normal helicopter rescue, but there have been dramatic improvements in recent years. A rescue was recently successfully completed just below camp 4, and a helicopter has been landed on the summit of the mountain.
Piloting the high altitude rescues has turned into a sport not unlike climbing--and some of the top climbers double as rescue specialists. And just like in climbing, accidents aren't uncommon. Base camp is around 17,000 feet, Camp 1 is around 20,000 feet, the highest successful helicopter rescue on everest is around 25,000 feet.
I read an article not too long ago about this: the crash rate for the rescue helicopters pushing the limits is really off the charts. Even going into everest base camp there are crashes every so often. Though helicopters are available to take people down after visiting base camp, I've read recommendations to hike out just because of the crash risk.
QuoteThe other problem is simply resources. Nepal is almost certainly a mess right now - are the lives of those stuck on Everest more important than the lives of those NOT stuck on Everest? Maybe not even an issue.
It seems a group of guys just need to go set a course through the icefall. But maybe basecamp is too much of a mess to send people to do that, or maybe with the aftershocks no one is keen to, or some combination.
Quote from: Berkut on April 27, 2015, 10:13:14 AM
I suspect being IN the icefall when a aftershock hits, ladders or no ladders, would rather suck in a fatal way...
It is possible to helicopter into Camp 1, but it is dangerous itself - it is ride on the edge of where helicopters can really operate. Indeed, for a long time it was considered beyond that edge.
The other problem is simply resources. Nepal is almost certainly a mess right now - are the lives of those stuck on Everest more important than the lives of those NOT stuck on Everest? Maybe not even an issue.
Yeah I got this feeling that maybe helicopters are a bit in demand right now.
Nepal's government seems pretty useless, maybe India should just annex them. :hmm:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPf0YbXqDm0
Quote
Nepal earthquake: authorities struggle to cope despite international aid efforts
Nepalese government says it is overwhelmed with requests for help across the country, as everything from paramedics to electricity remain in short supply
Jason Burke in Kathmandu, Justin McCurry, Sam Jones and agencies
Monday 27 April 2015 18.57 BST Last modified on Tuesday 28 April 2015 00.00 BST
A huge international aid operation is being mobilised to help the victims of the earthquake in Nepal, which has left tens of thousands of people homeless and raised fears of food and medicine shortages and an increased risk of waterborne and infectious diseases.
As the death toll from Saturday's quake passed 4,000, the Nepalese government said it was struggling to cope with the aftermath of the disaster and reach those cut off in remote areas.
"We are overwhelmed with rescue and assistance requests from all across the country," said Deepak Panda, a member of the country's disaster management agency.
Lila Mani Poudyal, the government's chief secretary and the rescue coordinator, appealed for more help from the international community, saying Nepal was short of everything from paramedics to electricity.
"We are appealing for tents, dry goods, blankets, mattresses, and 80 different medicines ... that we desperately need now," he told reporters. "We don't have the helicopters that we need or the expertise to rescue the people trapped."
Hospital beds in Kathmandu are already full, forcing other sick and injured people to seek makeshift treatment in the street alongside thousands of displaced survivors whose homes were destroyed or are in imminent danger of collapse after being weakened by the 7.8-magnitude quake.
The UN World Food Programme said on Monday that it was anticipating "a massive operation" and had mobilised all its food stocks on the region, while the World Health Organisation said it had already distributed medical supplies to cover the health needs of more than 40,000 people for three months in the country.
The UN children's agency, Unicef, said at least 940,000 Nepalese children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, adding that those left homeless by the earthquake were particularly vulnerable.
"There have been reports of dwindling supplies of water and food, power outages, and downed communication networks," it said in a statement.
"Hundreds of thousands of people spent the night sleeping in open areas, out of fear of more tremors. Heavy rain is now also reported which can further worsen the conditions. This crisis leaves children particularly vulnerable – limited access to safe water and sanitation will put children at great risk from waterborne diseases, while some children may have become separated from their families."
On Monday, the Disasters Emergency Committee – a coalition of UK aid charities including Oxfam, Save the Children and the British Red Cross – launched an appeal in response to the crisis.
The British government, which has pledged £5m towards the disaster relief effort, said it would dispatch an RAF transport plane to Nepal carrying a team of Gurkha engineers, more than 1,100 shelter kits and over 1,700 solar lanterns.
India flew in medical supplies and members of its disaster response force, while China sent a 60-strong emergency team. Pakistan's army said it was sending four C-130 aircraft with a 30-bed hospital, search-and-rescue teams and relief supplies.
A US military aircraft with 70 personnel was due to arrive in Kathmandu on Monday. Australia, Britain and New Zealand said they were sending specialist urban search-and-rescue teams to Kathmandu. Britain was also delivering supplies and medics.
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Despite fears that the death toll would soar once contact was restored with cut-off areas, reports from the remote Nepalese district of Ghorka - close to the epicentre of Saturday's quake - suggested the number of casualties could be fewer than has been feared, even if a high proportion of buildings were badly damaged.
Officials said on Monday the total number of dead and wounded in Ghorka was still unclear but, having had contact with most of their outlying administrators, they thought it would be "in the hundreds, not the thousands".
By late-afternoon, the overall confirmed total across the country was 3,922 dead and nearly 7,180 injured. An avalanche triggered by the quake killed 18 people at Mount Everest's base camp, while 85 people were killed in India and China.
More than 1,300 of the fatalities were from the heavily populated Kathmandu valley, while another 944 were from the district of Sindulpalchuk, east of the Nepalese capital.
Mountainous areas to the west of the epicentre – such as Manaslu, Dhaulagiri and Annapurna – had experienced only light damage, officials and trekking agencies said.
In Kavre district, as elsewhere, the growing problem is the huge number of homeless people. Of a population of 380,000, not more than 250 have been killed and around 900 injured, said the chief administrator, Sudarshan Parsad Dhakal. But, Dhakal said, about 100,000 people had lost their homes.
"It is not just the buildings that are in ruins. There are many others that are now uninhabitable. We need at least 3,000 family tents, blankets too and dry food for three days," he said.
In Kathmandu itself remains are still being brought out of the rubble. In one outlying district, Bhaktapur, about 30,000 people are thought to be homeless, officials say.
The earthquake – Nepal's worst in more than 80 years – has left thousands sleeping in the open while authorities battle against time to rescue anyone still alive beneath the rubble.
On Mount Everest, the evacuation began on Monday of hundreds of climbers trapped after a huge avalanche flattened the base camp, killing 18 and injuring 61 in the worst disaster to hit the mountain. The death toll on the mountain is likely to rise as no one knows how many people were at base camp and in the vicinity.
Many of the dead are locals, making this the second year running that the sherpa and other communities have been hit hard on Everest. Only one of the major expeditions has its camp intact and it seems very unlikely anyone will be continuing any climb on the peak.
While survivors wait for aid, rescue teams are continuing the frantic search for survivors, despite being exhausted by two nights of ceaseless work. "The rescue workers are in a really bad shape. We are all about to collapse. We have worked two straight nights," said home ministry official Laxmi Prasad Dhakal.
Rescuers used their bare hands, with no protective gear or heat detectors, in their search for survivors in what remains of the Dharahara tower. The narrow alleys would stop cranes, earthmovers or diggers reaching most of the houses that have collapsed, even if the aftershocks had not scared workers out of even trying, said Shyam Adhikari, the local police chief.
"Anyway, there's not much point. There are some entire families buried. We know because no one reported them missing. No one is alive under the rubble," he said.
With so many people sleeping in the open with no power or water and downpours forecast, there were mounting fears of major food and water shortages.
"There is no electricity, no water. Our main challenge and priority is to restore electricity and water," Dhakal said. "The next big challenge is the supply of food. Shopkeepers are unable to go in and open their shops. So people are facing difficulty buying food."
The immediate aftermath has underlined Nepal's inability to cope with a disaster of this scale. The country has a population of 28 million, with only 2.1 doctors and 50 hospital beds for every 10,000 people, according to the World Health Organisation.
"The earthquake has exposed that Nepal's best public hospital infrastructure has crumbled at a time when it should serve more people in a hurry," said Sarvendra Moongla, a senior surgeon at Bir Hospital's trauma centre in Kathmandu.
Quote from: The Brain on April 27, 2015, 12:54:24 PM
Yeah I got this feeling that maybe helicopters are a bit in demand right now.
Lots of those helicopters are privately owned. I have a hunch that a westerner with cash, which presumably covers all the westerners on everest above base camp, will have no trouble finding a helicopter.
I don't know the rates in Nepal, but in Tanzania I inquired regarding the cost of a high altitude helicopter rescue. I was told it would be $3,000. By western standards, that is cheap (in Switzerland if uninsured I've been told it is more like $10,000, and altitudes there are not as high). But that is still several times the per capita annual income in Tanzania. The money for saving your average local just isn't there.
I don't know if it's true, but I read that Sherpa's guiding western tourists up Everest make $20 a day, three dollars more than President.
EDIT: Looked it up, he makes $35-36 a day.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on April 27, 2015, 07:40:48 PM
I don't know if it's true, but I read that Sherpa's guiding western tourists up Everest make $20 a day, three dollars more than President.
EDIT: Looked it up, he makes $35-36 a day.
Do they give a refund if they eat their customers?
Quote from: jimmy olsen on April 27, 2015, 07:40:48 PM
I don't know if it's true, but I read that Sherpa's guiding western tourists up Everest make $20 a day, three dollars more than President.
EDIT: Looked it up, he makes $35-36 a day.
I'm sure it is very much dependent on what the Sherpa is doing. I don't believe that most westerners use sherpas as true guides to the summit of everest: many and I suspect most use western guides. Sherpas can be used for everything from brewing tea in base camp, to working as a porter up the mountain, to setting fixed ropes, to serving as a personal assistant to climbers on summit attempts (which is very similar to guiding), to acting as a true guide responsible for technical decisions, etc.
So used to thinking of Gupta as a talking head on tv, hard to imagine him doing stuff like this.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/27/world/nepal-earthquake-bir-hospital/index.html
Quote
Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN)—An ambulance arrives, and a young girl with a bandaged head and badly blackened eye is rushed into Kathmandu's Bir Hopital on a wheelchair amid much commotion.
She is Selena Dohal, 8, and her skull was fractured when a massive earthquake shook her neighborhood, two and a half hours from the Nepalese capital, to the ground on Saturday.
Blood has collected on top of her brain, in the right frontal area, and she urgently needs surgery to remove the clots.
"She went to get some water, and a house collapsed on her head," her grandfather Ram Prasad Duhal tells a doctor.
Her grandfather has accompanied Selena to the capital from Panchhkal while her parents take care of her injured brother, who has fractures to both legs.
The girl has received some treatment at another hospital but has been brought to Bir in the hopes her life can be saved.
"She was badly crushed. The roof of the house was on her. She was found after a few hours," neurosurgeon Bikesh Khambu says.
She receives a craniotomy in a makeshift operating room. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon and CNN's chief medical correspondent, has scrubbed up at the request of a Nepalese medical team to help with the operation.
The conditions are less than ideal. Gupta washes up using sterile water and iodine poured from a bottle rather than hot water from a scrub sink. Instead of electric drills, he relies on saws of the variety usually only used in war zones and natural disasters due to the lack of electricity.
Despite the suboptimal conditions, the operation is a success, and her prognosis is good, Gupta says. It might not look it, but Selena is one of the lucky ones.
Thousands were killed when a devastating earthquake rocked Nepal on Saturday. More thousands were injured, many of whom have flooded the capital's overstretched hospitals.
"I've seen a lot of situations around the world, and this is as bad as I've ever seen it," Gupta says.
"They need more resources, they need more personnel here right now, and they're expecting many more patients as these rescue operations go on.
"They're barely able to keep up right now. It's part of the reason they asked me (to help); I think they're asking anybody to try to pitch in."
'Everyone is scared to be here'
Bir Hospital, a government facility, is one of the busiest in Kathmandu.
Its inpatient wing, now scarred with cracks, was abandoned after big aftershocks Sunday, and doctors have scrambled to accommodate the influx of victims.
More than 3,900 were killed in Nepal by the 7.8-magnitude quake, the strongest to hit the region in more than 80 years. More than 7,100 were reported to have been injured, but officials fear that number will be much higher once information emerges from remote areas.
Many of the wounded are now across the road from the hospital at the Nepal Army Pavilion, a huge open space in central Kathmandu, and tarps have been erected at the front of the hospital for people to have shelter.
Patients are housed here alongside other local residents who have fled their homes, finding shelter under tents.
"You should have been here yesterday. The building was shaking, and we all had to run out across the road," neurosurgeon Paresh Mani Shrestha says.
"Everyone is scared to be there. We evacuated the patients; no one wants to go there to work."
Looking for missing loved ones in Nepal? CNN iReport wants to help
Hospital's early triage: 'Dead or alive'
Bir Hospital is a chaotic scene Monday as ambulances race in discharging new admissions, patients wail on stretchers in the lobby and distraught family members mill about.
"We have about 150 patients, but more are pouring in because the rescue is just happening," Shrestha says.
"When it happened on Saturday, all we could do was go 'dead or alive' -- that was the only triage we could do."
He says they received about 80 patients from Dharahara, the historic nine-story tower destroyed in the quake.
"There was nothing coming in yesterday," Shrestha says. But now the rescue is underway, and patients are arriving at Bir from less-equipped satellite hospitals.
Among them is a Western woman in a wheelchair, her arm in an improvised splint of branches. She comes from Langtang, north of Kathmandu, where reports are arriving of immense devastation.
Doctors are seeing patients with head injuries, pelvic and lower and upper limb fractures, Shrestha says.
Read earthquake stories from social media
Aid is on the way, but will it be enough?
Hospitals were running short on supplies despite international efforts to rush in aid. Numerous aid groups and at least 16 nations rushed aid and workers to Nepal, with more on the way.
And although the surgeons at Bir Hospital were able to save the life of young Selena, international aid agencies have warned that other children may not be so lucky.
UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency, said Sunday that nearly 1 million Nepalese children urgently need assistance.
But some aid flights were delayed over the weekend due to aftershocks, leading to fears that many more may die before they get the help they desperately need.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on April 28, 2015, 12:24:45 AM
So used to thinking of Gupta as a talking head on tv, hard to imagine him doing stuff like this.
Really, I'm kinda used to thinking of Gupta as a British lawyer. :hmm:
Looks like the after effects of this quake could be more deadly than the quake itself. :(
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/nepal-earthquake/cholera-nepal-n349686
Just gets worse :(
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/nepal-earthquake/nepal-army-chief-n351071
QuoteNepal Earthquake: Army Chief Says Up to 15,000 May Have Died
KATHMANDU, Nepal — Up to 15,000 people may have died in the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal over the weekend, the country's army chief told NBC News in an exclusive interview on Thursday.
The official death toll from Saturday's 7.8-magnitude quake quake currently stands at 5,800.
"Our estimates are not looking good. We are thinking that 10,000 to 15,000 may be killed," said Gen. Gaurav Rana, who is leading the nationwide rescue effort.
Rana acknowledged that massive temblor left officials struggling to cope with the aftermath — including the risk of disease and growing public anger at the pace of the rescue effort.
"There is unrest, and we are watching it. Yes, there is the threat of an epidemic, and we are watching it," he said.
Rana said he understood how many people "would be angry" about the government's response, stressing that the army was working with the police to "identify local hot spots and control things [politically]."
On Wednesday, hundreds of Nepalis protested outside parliament to demand the government boost the number of buses going to the interior hills and improve aid distribution. The official search and rescue effort has also been widely criticized in the press.
A 7.3 just hit! :o
Hell of an aftershock, those poor people. :(
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/nepal-earthquake/nepal-hit-7-3-magnitude-earthquake-panic-reported-kathmandu-n357481
I learned the other day that a former classmate was among those lost in the first quake. Really small world.
Wow :(
Quote from: Iormlund on May 12, 2015, 06:53:54 AM
I learned the other day that a former classmate was among those lost in the first quake. Really small world.
What are the odds... :(
Is a 7.3 considered an aftershock?
Quote from: lustindarkness on May 12, 2015, 10:23:57 AM
Is a 7.3 considered an aftershock?
No. Different epicenter. It would be an aftershock even at 7.3 if it had the same (or near-same) epicenter.
Dammit, I was hoping I did not learn anything new today. Thanks a lot G. <_<
A 6.8 hit off the coast of Sendai in the last half hour too. Hopefully no waves.
Quote from: Iormlund on May 12, 2015, 06:53:54 AM
I learned the other day that a former classmate was among those lost in the first quake. Really small world.
The popular trekking village of Langtang was buried in the first quake with dozens or hundreds dead. That really felt close to my as I had slept there 2.5 years ago on my own Nepal trek. :( :cry:
Now that's a new benchmark in government incompetence
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/02/us-nepal-rebuilding-idUSKCN0R20GU20150902
Quote
Two months after foreign countries and international agencies pledged $4.1 billion to help Nepal recover from its worst natural disaster, the government has yet to make arrangements to receive the money and has spent nothing on reconstruction.
The United Nations estimates almost three million survivors of twin earthquakes in April and May – around 10 percent of the Himalayan nation's population – need shelter, food and basic medical care, many in mountainous, hard-to-reach areas.
Govind Raj Pokharel, chief executive officer of the newly created National Reconstruction Authority, said the government was unlikely to start spending the money until October at the earliest because of delays in approving plans and concerns about starting building work in the monsoon season.
"The government's response has been slow. I accept that," said Pokharel.
Nepal has been criticized for its chaotic response to the quakes that killed almost 9,000 people. The country failed to adequately prepare even though experts had predicted an earthquake was likely. And then the government struggled to cope with relief.Four months later, many partially damaged buildings in Kathmandu are still standing and rubble is strewn across public parks. Tens of thousands of people are living in plastic tents, preyed upon by flies and mosquitoes, with muddy paths and no drains.
Maili Pariyar, 50, knitting a purse to sell outside her tent, said she only received food and tent materials from aid agencies. She has not been given anything by the government.
"We have lost everything. We are desperate," she said. "How much longer do we have to wait for help?"
Pokharel said the government had failed to spend any money because ministers had still not signed off on rebuilding and aid distribution plans.He said the government made an error by attempting to pass a contentious constitution that will create a new political system and divide the country into new regions, a decision that has led to deadly clashes. The government argues the overhaul will help reconstruction in the long run by creating greater stability.
"We would have liked it if they concentrated on the reconstruction first," Pokharel said. "That would have been better."
Jamie McGoldrick, the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nepal, said the government had been sluggish.
"The government needs to get going," he said. "The next big challenge is to ensure that people living in tents are prepared for the winter."After a two-month wait, Pokharel was appointed to head the reconstruction authority two weeks ago. He is now based in a government office that oversees printing because the earthquake damaged other buildings."We have lost time and now we need to catch up," he said.
(Editing by Douglas Busvine, Malini Menon and Nick Macfie)
The Nepalese government has not just been in the best of shape lately, what with being overthrown by Maoist rebels and all.
Quote from: Valmy on September 02, 2015, 09:10:05 PM
The Nepalese government has not just been in the best of shape lately, what with being overthrown by Maoist rebels and all.
Don't forget the killing spree in the Nepali royal family
Despicable! :ultra:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/04/child-nepal-earthquake-slaves-sold-uk
Quote
Child survivors of Nepal earthquake 'being sold' in the UK
Theresa May urges police investigation after the Sun reports that Nepalese and Indian children are being sold to British families as domestic slaves
Kevin Rawlinson
Monday 4 April 2016 00.30 BST Last modified on Monday 4 April 2016 00.42 BST
The home secretary Theresa May has urged police to investigate claims that child survivors of the Nepal earthquake and other vulnerable children are being sold to British families to work as domestic slaves.
An investigation by the Sun newspaper suggests that boys and girls as young as 10 are being sold for just £5,300 by black market gangs operating in India's Punjab province.
The paper says the gangs are preying on the children of Nepalese refugees, as well as destitute Indian families.
May called child trafficking a "truly abhorrent crime" and urged the National Crime Agency to investigate the newspaper's findings. She said the paper should "share its disturbing findings" with the agency, "so that appropriate action can be taken against the vile criminals who profit from this trade".
She added: "No child, anywhere in the world, should be taken away from their home and forced to work in slavery.
"That is why we introduced the landmark Modern Slavery Act last year, which included enhanced protections for potential child victims of slavery and sentences up to life imprisonment for those found guilty."
According to the Sun's report, which appears on the front of Monday's print edition, the desperate children are being sold to wealthy British families to be used as unpaid domestic servants.
It reports that a trader it names as Makkhan Singh lined up children for its undercover reporter to pick from and said: "We have supplied lads who have gone on to the UK.
"Most of the ones who are taken to England are Nepalese.
"For the supply of a boy, minimum 500,000 rupees [£5,300]. Then you will have other costs associated with taking him to the UK, but that's your responsibility extra to what you pay us.
"Take a Nepalese to England. They are good people. They are good at doing all the housework and they're very good cooks. No one is going to come after you."
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on 25 April last year, killing almost 9,000 people and leaving millions in need of aid.
It is estimated that millions of people across the world are victims of modern day slavery, trafficked across borders and forced to work in servitude. In October 2015, the Modern Slavery Act was brought in to crack down on modern day slavery and protect victims of trafficking.
Are they being forced to dig for the Sankara stones?
How can they be sold as domestic slaves?
Quote from: Jaron on April 04, 2016, 12:57:50 AM
Are they being forced to dig for the Sankara stones?
It's an earthquake, not an Indy movie, Jason.
Quote from: The Brain on April 04, 2016, 10:20:34 AM
How can they be sold as domestic slaves?
Yeah, if they're Nepalese and Indian, and being sold in Britain, aren't they foreign slaves?
And yeah, I can be despicable at times.
Quote from: dps on April 04, 2016, 04:18:47 PM
Quote from: The Brain on April 04, 2016, 10:20:34 AM
How can they be sold as domestic slaves?
Yeah, if they're Nepalese and Indian, and being sold in Britain, aren't they foreign slaves?
And yeah, I can be despicable at times.
Other British working class jobs being destroyed by immigrants :mad:
Quote from: Norgy on April 04, 2016, 11:11:38 AM
Quote from: Jaron on April 04, 2016, 12:57:50 AM
Are they being forced to dig for the Sankara stones?
It's an earthquake, not an Indy movie, Jason.
With things so bad for so long, it's a little suprising the whole country hasn't collapsed into anarchy.
http://time.com/4305225/nepal-earthquake-anniversary-disaster/
Quote
Why Nepal Is Still in Rubble a Year After a Devastating Quake
Nikhil Kumar/Sindhupalchok, Nepal @nkreports
7:04 PM ET
Thousands died when a 7.8-magnitude quake hit Nepal on April 25, 2015. But thanks to political dysfunction, reconstruction has been slow
It was a year ago that Ram Giri's home imploded. The earthquakes that killed nearly 9,000 people in Nepal in April and May 2015 twisted the brick walls of the two-room structure, spilling the exterior into what had been the family's living space. Here is a brick-filled cavity where there was once a roof, now temporarily covered with corrugated tin sheets, and the small annex that housed the family's livestock been reduced to a dusty pile of rubble. To keep what's left stable, Giri spent his savings on wooden trusses to hold up the walls. "It can collapse at any moment," he says, gazing over his village in the country's Sindhupalchok district, still strewn with debris from the 7.8- and 7.3–magnitude quakes. All around him, desperate villagers remain stuck in shaky tarpaulin tents and small tin sheds that seem barely strong enough to withstand the monsoon rainstorms due this summer, let alone another temblor in this earthquake-prone nation. Yet nearly a year after the first devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake, which stuck on April 25, 2015, there is no sign of any rebuilding.
The picture is the same across swathes of Sindhupalchok — the hardest-hit of Nepal's 75 districts — and beyond. The quakes and a succession of powerful aftershocks destroyed more than 90% of Sindhupalchok's homes. Across Nepal, nearly 650,000 families were displaced, forced to abandon their homes and communities for tented relief camps. Up north, furious landslides left remote alpine villages like Barpak, which sat at the epicenter of the April quake, all but cut off from the rest of Nepal, accessible only by helicopter. Countrywide more than 600,000 homes were damaged beyond repair, as pent-up energy from the collision of two subterranean slabs of rock known as the Indian and Eurasian plates rippled out across one of the world's poorest countries. The quake was so powerful it actually moved Mount Everest by more than an inch. It was the worst natural disaster to befall Nepal in more than eight decades.
All told, the economic impact was estimated at around $7 billion. The good news was that international donors stepped up to aid Nepal, where there the per capita income before the catastrophic disasters was already lower than in poverty-stricken African nations such as Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone. At a June conference in Kathmandu, they promised $4.1 billion to help the country get back on its feet. "The response and the level of commitment was higher than anybody had predicted," says Renaud Meyer, the country director in Nepal for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
But the money earmarked for rebuilding homes has yet to reach victims such as Giri, many of whom have only received around $150 in compensation since the earthquake. With reconstruction work at a virtual standstill and scores stuck in tents, numerous earthquake victims were reported to have perished during the country's freezing Himalayan winter. "Everything was a on good track [until the donor's conference]. And then it went wrong," says Meyer, as the rebuilding initiative was overtaken by a protracted battle over a new Constitution that had been in the works ever since Nepal's monarchy was abolished in 2008. "This was a moment to focus on rebuilding the country, but the priorities were all wrong," says C.K. Lal, a prominent Kathmandu-based political commentator. "Instead, we were consumed by a political fight." For the reconstruction process, the result was paralysis as political dysfunction in Kathmandu turned attention away from the rubble-strewn countryside.
Read More: These 5 Facts Explain the Strange Politics of Natural Disasters
Squeezed into a mountainous crevice between China on the north and India on the south, east and west, Nepal has long been the site of fractious and bloody political battles. The fall of the monarchy was preceded, in 2006, by the end of a violent, decade-long insurgency by Maoist rebels that claimed more than 10,000 lives. A new constituent assembly formally abolished the Kingdom of Nepal in 2008 and set out to write a constitution for the infant Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. It's failure led to a second constituent assembly, which was meant to have completed its work by January, 2015. But Nepal's leaders yet again failed to agree on such basic matters as new state boundaries and the nature of the new electoral system. It was the twin disasters in April and May, 2015, that finally brought the country's main political forces together—an agreement to fast-track the constitutional process.
The stated aim was to clear the way for the rebuilding process. In fact, the exact opposite happened, as the hurry to approve the new document ended up stoking old political fault lines. A violent confrontation ensued that saw more than 50 people killed in protests beginning in August, as ethnic groups living along the country's border with India complained that their interests had been sidelined in a new constitution that was officially approved in September. Known as Madhesis and with close language and cultural ties with India, these communities have long felt marginalized by the Nepalese state in favor of the more dominant ethnic groups drawn from areas around the political and economic hub of Kathmandu. "Negotiating the demands of different groups required more time. It couldn't be done in a few months when the country had been destroyed by a natural disaster," says Lal.
Read More: No Respite for Shortage-Hit Nepal as Political Efforts Fall Short
For a nation already deeply wounded by the quakes, the unrest couldn't come at a worse time. The border regions at the heart of the protests form a trade lifeline for landlocked Nepal, with India accounting for more than half of the country's trade. Even when Nepal is doing well, the coutnry's larger South Asian neighbor is a critical source of food and fuel. With unrest flaring around key crossings, tankers and trucks carrying badly needed supplies were left stranded on the Indian side. Fuel was rationed and hospitals began to run low on essential medical supplies. NGOs based in Kathmandu suddenly found themselves unable to distribute aid to the earthquake-affected regions. "We had to reduce our footprint significantly," says Meyer.
Nepal blamed India for imposing an "unofficial blockade" and colluding with the protestors. New Delhi denied the charge, blaming Nepal's internal divisions. Amid the political bickering—the border was gummed up for 135 days until the constitution was finally amended earlier this year—the rebuilding effort was derailed at the worst possible time. "It is politics, not rebuilding, that has dominated over the past year," says Prashant Jha, a New Delhi-based Nepalese journalist and author of Battles of The New Republic, a contemporary history of Nepal.
The fallout is clear to see in the troubled record of Nepal's National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), the state agency charged with leading the rebuilding effort. It was in June last year, around the time of the donors' conference, that Nepal's government said it would set up the NRA to manage and spend the $4.1 billion pledged by international donors. The then government led by Prime Minister Sushil Koirala named a chief executive for the new body. But a bill giving the NRA the legal authority to carry out its work was blocked amid wrangling between the government and the opposition over its leadership. It wasn't until December, following the formation of a new government headed by Prime Minister Khagda Prasad Oli, that the NRA was finally given legal backing. A new chief executive was named, but it took until mid-March for the first rebuilding funds to be distributed to quake-hit victims in a section of the country's Dholaka district. "It has taken a long time for us to establish the NRA and get the leadership [in place]," says Rajan Bhattarai, a ruling party lawmaker and close aide of Oli. "But now the institution is in place, the system is in place, and this will move forward."
But much more remains to be done, including hiring staff at the NRA itself. "You go to the office of the NRA and it's still very much empty. You look at their staffing tables and [positions are] either 'under recruitment' or 'to be filled'," says Meyer, the UNDP director. "There's a lot of gaps still in the system." The Prime Minister acknowledged the challenge on March 29, when he told a meeting with officials from earthquake-affected districts that "the reconstruction work is not going to end even in decades at this pace," according to the Kathmandu Post newspaper. "We will reach a place where the reconstruction would be futile. Because everything will be gone by the time we finish our work. People will die."
.
Even as the reconstruction process drags, confusion reigns about how it will actually work. "It is not clear what kinds of houses people are allowed to rebuild," says Min Bahadur Shahi, the convener of the Humanitarian Accountability Monitoring Initiative, a collective of local NGOs. "For example, even if I'm a private individual and I have the money to start rebuilding my home, the government doesn't allow me to reconstruct my house because they say they will announce new building codes. But there is no clear information on these codes." The result, says Shahi, is that even those victims who can afford to start rebuilding their homes are left in limbo as they wait for clearer information from the NRA.
As tens of thousands of earthquake victims prepare to endure a second monsoon season living in temporary shelters, the country also faces the risk of fresh political turmoil. While the border unrest eased after Nepal's main political parties amended the constitution in January, the changes do not fully address the Madhesi demands for a more equitable settlement, leaving open the door to further strife, according to analysts at the International Crisis Group. In a new report in early April, they warned that the country risked further violence, as Madhesi groups remain dissatisfied with the constitutional changes. There is also the continued threat of natural disasters, with the country experiencing a series of smaller tremors since last year's earthquakes, most recently on April 9, when a 4.5 magnitude rupture jolted Nepal.
.
In Sindhupalchok, the prospect of renewed political turmoil fills Giri with dread. Before the earthquake, he earned close to $200 a month as a van and truck driver for a local businessman. His wife worked part-time at a nearby farm. But the quake put a stop to that—landslides and the movement of earth across Sindhupalchok destroyed water pipes and corked natural springs along the hillside, severely restricting the supply of water for drinking and farming. Giri lost his own job when the border protests blocked the supply of fuel to Nepal. "There was no diesel for months," he says. "What use is a driver without any diesel?"
Though supplies from the Indian side have resumed, fuel remains scarce. Giri says he is now lucky if he drives more than one or two days a week. He spends the rest of the month hiring himself out as a casual laborer. "It's mostly removing rubble leftover from last year," he says. "At the end of the month, we now have $30, maybe $40, for a family of four. Our home has been destroyed. Who knows when the government will rebuild it. They say they will give us money to rebuilt it. When? Next year?"
A Nepal Megathread :lol:
Quote from: sbr on April 24, 2016, 06:47:58 PM
A Nepal Megathread :lol:
Needs more Dorsey quitting his job and spending several months in the Himalayas.
Quote from: sbr on April 24, 2016, 06:47:58 PM
A Nepal Megathread :lol:
timmy gets physically aroused at the prospect of minorities suffering.
That's some really impressive spelling Hillary. :cheers:
Quote from: HVC on April 24, 2016, 08:00:53 PM
Quote from: sbr on April 24, 2016, 06:47:58 PM
A Nepal Megathread :lol:
timmy gets physically aroused at the prospect of minorities suffering.
I do too, but have the tact to keep a pillow over my crotch.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on April 24, 2016, 08:03:15 PM
That's some really impressive spelling Hillary. :cheers:
autocorrect technology is getting better every day :)
I have a friend over there right now, goes on a missionary trip every year.
Nepal has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, and the recent earthquake could make that even worse.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/24/opinion/24exposures.html
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.nyt.com%2Fimages%2F2016%2F04%2F24%2Fsunday-review%2F24Child-Brides-Nepal-slide-HOPK%2F24Child-Brides-Nepal-slide-HOPK-master1050.jpg&hash=f1ba8ab284fe1b2642f250a673a0df0587860e34)