Blog Archive
A letter I received from Nepal
Posted by Gé on Saturday, May 2, 2015
TM Center in Kathmandu - Nepal Earthquake Report
Namaste,
I am writing a sort of general report for friends and for supporters of the Nepal Projects. This is going to a number of people and has nothing confidential in it, so anyone may freely share it with others.
There are so many enquiries about the situation here and even offers of help for relief work as we start to get our legs back from under us, since the earthquake. It is difficult for me to reply to everyone one at a time so please bear with the situation and not mind the generalities of this report.
April 25th, just before noon, Nepal was struck by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake. The epicenter was approximately 50 miles from Kathmandu and about 30 miles from Pokhara.. roughly the center of the country….
As anyone following the news knows there has been a lot of damage in the Kathmandu Valley and massive destruction in the rural districts surrounding the Kathmandu Valley. At the latest count, more than 6,600 people were killed and property damage is at least 130,000 homes completely destroyed and maybe up to 600,000 damaged to some degree.
Many, many people are homeless and are surviving outdoors as best they can, as relief efforts to provide them with the basics of survival arrive. In the village areas the devastation is such that whole villages were flattened and in many place 70-90% of all buildings collapsed. The number of people affected by this calamity is estimated to be about 8 million people or roughly 25% of the population of Nepal.
Right now about 650,000 people have left the Kathmandu Valley to return to their home villages to help their families or start relief work and salvaging what they can of their village homes.
Kathmandu is starting to come back to life, but today (Saturday the 2nd) not 10% of the shops were open and traffic was almost negligible. The city has a largely deserted feeling and the people are doing OK, most Nepalis are cheerful by nature and stoic by disposition so they are handling things amazingly well.
The old parts of the city have been badly damaged and we have lost many wonderful, ancient Temples and national monuments. The Holy Temple of Pashupatinath was hardly damaged although many surrounding buildings were. Bhakatpur suffered a lot and I read that about 25 % of the houses came down, along with many temples, including the Natyapol temple, which is the biggest and most majestic of them all. In Kathmandu amongst other collapsed structures was the KASTHMANDAP… dating from the 12th century, Kathmandu supposedly took its name from this ancient mandap in the Durbar Square.
In contrast to all of this... much of the city shows little to no damage.. It seems to depend on the quality and age of the building construction. However many of the new apartment buildings have damage and it is too early to know if it is just cosmetic or structural and if they will have to come down. The economic loss is in the billions of dollars and the tourist industry will take huge hit and time to recover.
Now that all sound rather harsh and certainly it is, but here is another angle and this is the underlying reality…
The geologists and seismologists have been predicting a major earthquake could come at any time.. and in fact is considered long over due. The last major quake to hit Kathamndu was in 1934 and was proportionately even more devastating, considering the population of the Valley was less than 10% of what it is now.
The predictions of the seismologists were very dire, with estimated fatalities in the 100s of thousands… Now here is the thing,.. the quake hit at noon on aSaturday, the day off in Nepal. The timing was such that schools were closed and many places of business and all government offices were closed. In the rural areas most families were out in the fields planting the spring crops or preparing their fields.
If the quake had struck at night or the morning hours the death toll would have in fact been in the hundreds of thousands. These village homes are largely made of mud and stone with no mortar and they simply crumbled in a heartbeat.
There is no way to get around it… the Himalayas is one of the most seismically active areas of the world.. In fact this earthquake moved Kathmandu about 10 feet south and raised the Valley up about 3 feet… all in one go.. (Mount Everest sank by about an inch…)
So, when you consider the Laws Of Nature, it is in fact almost a miracle that the damage occurred in a relatively narrow window of the day and day of the week that could mitigate such a potential calamity. People here are very much aware of this and deeply grateful that Nature’s timing was as kind as it was..
This is not to belie the extent of the suffering and destruction.. It IS MASSIVE, but it could have been so very much worse.
Now that is interesting from our perspective in that these days in Nepal there are very many Maharishi Yagyas going on… None of the Maharishi Pandits were harmed although many lost family village homes.. They have been working for the last 6 years to create coherence for Nepal and the world….
During this time, we have seen a marked increase in coherence in the political field. The Maoist party lost their destructive edge, were sidelined by the political process and have now faded largely into irrelevancy. The political parties have a long way to go, no doubt, but the situation has improved like the day from the night. In many areas of society we have seen all the predicted signs of increasing coherence and especially since we have had the first TM SIdhi Courses in Nepal.
I am writing these points because it is important to have a perspective during times of natural calamity… they can seem so arbitrary and the suffering can seem so vast. In truth, yes we are suffering now in Nepal… but it is a fraction of what was predicted and considering everything we are very grateful.
Another area of gratitude that I must acknowledge is the response from the International Community. Relief aid is flooding into the country. Even I received 95 concerned emails from friends and Foundation supporters, the very morning after the earthquake…
So, I am confident that Nepal will rebuild… it is going to be an on going effort for some time, but the Nepalis are a self reliant people. getting through the next months will be hard, no doubt, but they will do it. I have told friends that ‘if’ I have to face such a situation as this, in my life, then there are no better people to go through it will than our Nepali friends. I love these people and for me this is home.
I want to thank all the friends and supporters for your kind attention and the sincerity of your hearts.. It has been a great honor for me to have helped host many guests these last years and watch the marvel on your faces as Nepal unfolded HER magic for you.
If anyone wants to participate in the relief efforts or offer support in any way, it is welcome. But, neither Atmaram-Dai nor I are soliciting any donations from anyone or anywhere. If you contact us individually we can steer you to legitimate Foundations that can accept donations and give you a tax exemption.
Our work is to create coherence and support the Cultural Integrity of Nepal and it is the most heart felt work that I have ever done in my life. I consider it to be the greatest gift that I have ever received and sharing it with others has been just a huge and wonderful part of my life. Thanks.
Jai Guru Dev
and all the best to all of you.
Ramprasad
============================================
Nepal earthquake in 75 photos
Namaste,
I am writing a sort of general report for friends and for supporters of the Nepal Projects. This is going to a number of people and has nothing confidential in it, so anyone may freely share it with others.
There are so many enquiries about the situation here and even offers of help for relief work as we start to get our legs back from under us, since the earthquake. It is difficult for me to reply to everyone one at a time so please bear with the situation and not mind the generalities of this report.
April 25th, just before noon, Nepal was struck by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake. The epicenter was approximately 50 miles from Kathmandu and about 30 miles from Pokhara.. roughly the center of the country….
As anyone following the news knows there has been a lot of damage in the Kathmandu Valley and massive destruction in the rural districts surrounding the Kathmandu Valley. At the latest count, more than 6,600 people were killed and property damage is at least 130,000 homes completely destroyed and maybe up to 600,000 damaged to some degree.
Many, many people are homeless and are surviving outdoors as best they can, as relief efforts to provide them with the basics of survival arrive. In the village areas the devastation is such that whole villages were flattened and in many place 70-90% of all buildings collapsed. The number of people affected by this calamity is estimated to be about 8 million people or roughly 25% of the population of Nepal.
Right now about 650,000 people have left the Kathmandu Valley to return to their home villages to help their families or start relief work and salvaging what they can of their village homes.
Kathmandu is starting to come back to life, but today (Saturday the 2nd) not 10% of the shops were open and traffic was almost negligible. The city has a largely deserted feeling and the people are doing OK, most Nepalis are cheerful by nature and stoic by disposition so they are handling things amazingly well.
The old parts of the city have been badly damaged and we have lost many wonderful, ancient Temples and national monuments. The Holy Temple of Pashupatinath was hardly damaged although many surrounding buildings were. Bhakatpur suffered a lot and I read that about 25 % of the houses came down, along with many temples, including the Natyapol temple, which is the biggest and most majestic of them all. In Kathmandu amongst other collapsed structures was the KASTHMANDAP… dating from the 12th century, Kathmandu supposedly took its name from this ancient mandap in the Durbar Square.
In contrast to all of this... much of the city shows little to no damage.. It seems to depend on the quality and age of the building construction. However many of the new apartment buildings have damage and it is too early to know if it is just cosmetic or structural and if they will have to come down. The economic loss is in the billions of dollars and the tourist industry will take huge hit and time to recover.
Now that all sound rather harsh and certainly it is, but here is another angle and this is the underlying reality…
The geologists and seismologists have been predicting a major earthquake could come at any time.. and in fact is considered long over due. The last major quake to hit Kathamndu was in 1934 and was proportionately even more devastating, considering the population of the Valley was less than 10% of what it is now.
The predictions of the seismologists were very dire, with estimated fatalities in the 100s of thousands… Now here is the thing,.. the quake hit at noon on aSaturday, the day off in Nepal. The timing was such that schools were closed and many places of business and all government offices were closed. In the rural areas most families were out in the fields planting the spring crops or preparing their fields.
If the quake had struck at night or the morning hours the death toll would have in fact been in the hundreds of thousands. These village homes are largely made of mud and stone with no mortar and they simply crumbled in a heartbeat.
There is no way to get around it… the Himalayas is one of the most seismically active areas of the world.. In fact this earthquake moved Kathmandu about 10 feet south and raised the Valley up about 3 feet… all in one go.. (Mount Everest sank by about an inch…)
So, when you consider the Laws Of Nature, it is in fact almost a miracle that the damage occurred in a relatively narrow window of the day and day of the week that could mitigate such a potential calamity. People here are very much aware of this and deeply grateful that Nature’s timing was as kind as it was..
This is not to belie the extent of the suffering and destruction.. It IS MASSIVE, but it could have been so very much worse.
Now that is interesting from our perspective in that these days in Nepal there are very many Maharishi Yagyas going on… None of the Maharishi Pandits were harmed although many lost family village homes.. They have been working for the last 6 years to create coherence for Nepal and the world….
During this time, we have seen a marked increase in coherence in the political field. The Maoist party lost their destructive edge, were sidelined by the political process and have now faded largely into irrelevancy. The political parties have a long way to go, no doubt, but the situation has improved like the day from the night. In many areas of society we have seen all the predicted signs of increasing coherence and especially since we have had the first TM SIdhi Courses in Nepal.
I am writing these points because it is important to have a perspective during times of natural calamity… they can seem so arbitrary and the suffering can seem so vast. In truth, yes we are suffering now in Nepal… but it is a fraction of what was predicted and considering everything we are very grateful.
Another area of gratitude that I must acknowledge is the response from the International Community. Relief aid is flooding into the country. Even I received 95 concerned emails from friends and Foundation supporters, the very morning after the earthquake…
So, I am confident that Nepal will rebuild… it is going to be an on going effort for some time, but the Nepalis are a self reliant people. getting through the next months will be hard, no doubt, but they will do it. I have told friends that ‘if’ I have to face such a situation as this, in my life, then there are no better people to go through it will than our Nepali friends. I love these people and for me this is home.
I want to thank all the friends and supporters for your kind attention and the sincerity of your hearts.. It has been a great honor for me to have helped host many guests these last years and watch the marvel on your faces as Nepal unfolded HER magic for you.
If anyone wants to participate in the relief efforts or offer support in any way, it is welcome. But, neither Atmaram-Dai nor I are soliciting any donations from anyone or anywhere. If you contact us individually we can steer you to legitimate Foundations that can accept donations and give you a tax exemption.
Our work is to create coherence and support the Cultural Integrity of Nepal and it is the most heart felt work that I have ever done in my life. I consider it to be the greatest gift that I have ever received and sharing it with others has been just a huge and wonderful part of my life. Thanks.
Jai Guru Dev
and all the best to all of you.
Ramprasad
============================================
Nepal earthquake in 75 photos
Tags: nepal earthquake tm coherence