Heartbreaking landslide after devastating earthquake – collapse massive hill
भिडियो हेर्न तल को बक्समा क्लिक गर्नुहोस
Crumbled, devastated buildings line the narrow roads of Sindhupalchok, a Himalayan foothill district where the death count from Saturday’s magnitude-7.8 earthquake has just surpassed that of the capital, Kathmandu. Relief workers have only just begun to address the scale and scope of need in the district, which lies around 40 miles (65 km) northeast of Kathmandu. But for many villagers, the lack of government assistance over the past five days has provoked vocal and visible anger.
“We haven’t received anything,” said Rachana Sahi, 25, as she helped her family members dig through pieces of their destroyed house for remnants of their belongings. “We’ll get help after we die.”
The earthquake destroyed some 80 percent of the 60,000 houses in Sindhupalchok. So far, 1,746 deaths have been confirmed there, said Sitaram Joshi, the leader of the Nepal Red Cross’s national disaster response team. In Kathmandu Valley, which has so far been the center of relief efforts, 1,448 people have been confirmed dead to date, according to the National Emergency Operation Center. Joshi also estimated that the number of dead in Sindhupalchok could rise as high as 5,000 in the coming weeks as more bodies are discovered.
Sindhupalchok’s terrain, with villages scattered across steep mountains and narrow, twisting roads, has drastically slowed rescue efforts, so that vehicles taking the 40-mile journey from Kathmandu need about three hours to get there. Meanwhile, electricity and communication lines have been cut off across the district, leaving residents even more isolated. Civilians do with their own hands the work of rescuers who haven’t arrived yet. In one village, members of one family drilled through the floor of a pink apartment building leaning diagonally on the building next door, trying to pull out a dead relative. A few steps away, others made neat piles of blankets, framed photos and other possessions they managed to retrieve from the piles of dust and stone.
In the village of Sangachok, where 183 people have been confirmed dead, the smell of carrion from livestock still buried under piles of rubble lingered in the air. The survivors there are living off food salvaged from their shops — packages of biscuits and dried noodles — that many expect will last perhaps another week. Their supply of clean water is fast running out, heightening fears of a looming onslaught of water-borne diseases. Children have already begun to suffer from diarrhea. The residents have been too focused on day-to-day survival to devise plans for when their remaining supplies run out.
“People are not thinking. They are just afraid,” said Suraj Giri, a 22-year-old science teacher in Sangachok. Giri lost his house, his uncle was killed, and the school where he worked was also destroyed in the earthquake. The villagers buried their dead themselves, with no means to hold any funerals.
“Nepal has gotten help from other countries like America, China, India,” Giri said. “Supplies are coming in to the airport in Kathmandu. But they are not bringing it here.”
Local officials — the chief district officer and local development officer — haven’t been seen at all in Sangachok, fueling rumors that they had fled the district altogether for the capital. However, relief workers and army personnel said they had been meeting with the officials in Chautara, the administrative headquarters, to discuss the emergency response. But the government representatives have stayed out of the public eye as anger from residents swelled.
On Wednesday, dozens of people crowded in front of the administrative office in Chautara, demanding that officials deliver more tarps to earthquake survivors sleeping without shelter. “The government has tents, but they’re not giving them out,” said K.C. Netra, a villager who had joined the crowd.
“Some tents are coming in, and they’re trying to distribute them to people, but when someone gets one and others don’t, people get angry,” said Nil Birram Tamang, a driver for the district administrative office. “There just aren’t enough materials.”
तल को बक्समा क्लिक गर्नुहोस
Heartbreaking landslide after devastating earthquake – collapse massive hill
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