Earthquakes - Melamchi, Nepal (II)
the adventure
"Everyone evacuate to higher ground! Right Now!"
Following our rapid assessment mission and initial emergency medical relief mission, I led another RRI relief team to Melamchi the following week. Amazingly, we managed to secure about 12 tons of supplies despite the acute shortages, so our primary relief objectives were to provide rice and daal, as well as shelter materials, for the low-caste and remote villages that we had previously visited and assessed. As a secondary objective, we would also continue to provide mobile medical services to those in need.
As our team was hiking towards a remote village up in the Melamchi hills on 12 May, the second major earthquake of 7.3 Magnitude struck Nepal at around 1300 hrs local time. It immediately felt different and much more powerful than the other smaller shocks that we had been experiencing. The ground beneath us shook very violently, cracks appeared, houses crumbled, and numerous big landslides were simultaneously triggered on the hills surrounding us. Villagers screamed and scattered, the rumblings grew louder, and some of us lost our balance. It felt like we were trapped in a bad disaster movie.
Seeing a small maize plot located on higher ground near us, my team and I quickly scrambled towards it, and held on to the sturdy stalks as the quake continued for a very long 53 seconds. Thankfully, everyone was accounted for, and we managed to also help recover some of the villagers.
The second major quake and its many aftershocks created yet more obstacles, dangers and challenges for us. With access blocked in many places by major landslides, reaching the remote communities with relief supplies was made even more difficult. Nonetheless, we still managed to achieve our mission objectives. While the mission was difficult, the many Nepalese kids and locals that crossed our paths brought us much joy and encouragement. And, amid the death, destruction and dangers around us, focusing on their faces in our minds' eyes helped us to press on....
