Bharat Rakshak

Mariano Diotto ‏@marianodiotto 4m4 minutes ago

@Fiorello #NepalEarthquake
Please help! God bless Nepal - DONATE @crocerossa http://bit.ly/1zo1wRA

chaanakya wrote:The Indian Express ‏@IndianExpress 3h3 hours ago

Tomorrow, it will be a week since #NepalEarthquake. Here is our full coverage
http://indianexpress.com/topic/nepal-earthquake-2/ …
The Indian Express

The 2010 earthquake in Haiti revised the benchmark for what was thought possible for survival, said Andrew Olvera, the head of a U.S. disaster response team. A man there was miraculously pulled from the rubble after 27 long days.

Warning Kathmandu of tough times ahead, Indian experts said on Thursday that reconstruction of a crippled Nepal could take at least five years and last week’s fierce earthquake may have set the country back by up to $10 billion.

Speaking to HT exclusively after chairing a meeting of top Indian officials involved in disaster relief, the Indian ambassador to Nepal, Ranjit Rae, said New Delhi was thinking one step ahead and preparing a strategy to assist with the Himalayan nation’s recovery.

“We have started thinking about the colossal task ahead and will speak to the Nepalese government about it. They haven’t even started thinking about it as they are consumed with relief work,” he said.

The Indian rescue effort is at its fag end, with focus now shifting to stepping up relief measures and the question of recovery being mulled by a specially-constituted task force.

With tempers rising in Kathmandu’s streets over the slow pace of aid delivery, Rae said it was crucial for Nepal to “build capacity to absorb international help” that would pour in during the reconstruction phase — the most complex after a disaster of this magnitude.

“Hamara roti-beti ka sambandh hai (we eat together and inter-marry). India will always be the first responder if Nepal is in crisis,” the ambassador said. More than 40% of the Indian external affairs ministry’s budget is earmarked for two countries — Nepal and Bhutan.

Even creating the conditions for actual recovery to begin will be a protracted process. “Transitional recovery could take 18 months,” said Kamal Kishore, member of the National Disaster Management Authority.

He said Nepal’s recon-struction would take at least five years, pegging the loss caused by the killer quake at a conservative $5-10 billion, citing “predictions made by some damage assessment models.”

Kishore is part of an interministerial team — headed by an additional secretary — coordinating multiple aspects of Indian humanitarian assistance and also poring over possible roles that New Delhi could play in Nepal’s reconstruction.

Rae said Nepal would have to put mechanisms in place in coordination with other countries to get back on the road to recovery.

However, the country may have to live with the scars left by the destruction of heritage buildings and temples

Two days after Pakistan served 'beef masala' as part of the relief package to the earthquake victims of Nepal, a blame game has begun in Islamabad with the government saying the supplies were being taken care of by the Pakistan Air Force and that the government had no information about it.

Nepal, a Hindu-majority country, treats cows as sacred and there is a blanket ban on slaughtering the animal. On Wednesday, Indian doctors at Kathmandu's Bir Hospital told Mail Today that packets of 'beef masala' were sent as part of relief aid to the temblor survivors.

Nepal's Army chief said on Friday that the Indian Army made one flight into Nepal's sensitive northern region bordering China due to a lack of understanding of Nepal's geography.

Addressing his first press conference after the devastating earthquake at Nepal Army headquarters, Gen. Gaurav Sumsher Rana said, "Yes, I admit that one Indian flight was made to the northern border but that was only due to misunderstanding of Nepal's geography. But it was only in the spirit of helping (quake-affetced people)."

The army chief's reaction came amid media reports that criticised the Indian Army for focusing on making flights to the Nepal-China border which the Himalayan nation considers as sensitive zone.

The Indian Army team has been making flights to China border without seeking prior approval from Nepali authorities and Nepal Army was not happy with the Indian attitude, said a report published in Nepal's Kantipur Daily on Friday.

Gen. Rana faced tough questions from journalists as to why were the Indians repeatedly violating the norms.

"One should not think that international military assistance in such situation would undermine the national security," Gen. Rana said, adding that "we know how the Indian, Chinese and Nepali military assistance should be channelised at this juncture".

He expressed his dissatisfaction over the delay in arrival of foreign assistance in Nepal immediately after the quake.

"The international community should have addressed the situation immediately within 30 hours after the earthquake struck, but that did not happen in Nepal. The way the international community should address the situation, it did not happen in that way," he said. "Had the assistance come on time, we would have been able to address the situation."

Muldhoka, Nepal (CNN)As Rasmila Awal walked home from the store on Saturday, the earth began to shake. A few moments later, she saw the building she lived in collapse.

And inside, under all the debris, Awal knew, were her children -- Soniya, aged 10, and Sonies, only 5 months old.

"I started screaming and asking neighbors for help," she recalled in an interview Thursday.

It looked at first glance as if the children could not have possibly survived.

The scale of the devastation is evident. Across the street lies a pile of rubble. Only the occasional soda bottle or piece of clothing sticking out from between some bricks gives any indication that people once lived here.

"I went numb," said Awal, who is 35. "I didn't hear anything, didn't know if they were alive or not."

Awal's is one of the many stories to emerge after the devastating magnitude-7.8 earthquake hit Nepal Saturday, killing more than 5,500 people and injuring more than twice that number.

Her husband, Sham Krishna Awal, 34, a microbus driver, was working when the quake shook the region. But Soniya and Sonies were at the family home in Muldhoka, Bhaktapur, east of the capital, Kathmandu.

Sham Awal rushed home and scrabbled frantically through the rubble, searching for his children. Neighbors came to help. But Rasmila Awal became despondent.

"I had very little hope that they had survived," she said. "I didn't hear any sound at all."

And then, a blessing: After two hours, Soniya, a fourth-grader, was found alive.

But the baby was still missing.

No indication the baby might be alive, until . . .

The desperate family called the Nepalese army. Soldiers arrived at 6 p.m. They, too, dug through the debris, but didn't find the infant so they left at 9 p.m.

The father also began to lose hope of finding his son alive -- until, from under the rubble, he heard faint cries.

But night had fallen and there was little that could be done.

"It's destiny," a neighbor told Rasmila Awal. "If he's destined to live, he will. Or else God will take him away."

The family went to sleep in a nearby field. Others were sleeping there, too -- some because they were afraid of being trapped indoors, some because they had no homes left at all.
Nepali soldiers had given up their search on Saturday night but returned when Sonies' father heard cries.
Nepali soldiers had given up their search on Saturday night but returned when Sonies' father heard cries.

The next morning, the Awals returned to the remnants of their home. And they heard the joyful sound they had prayed they would hear. Their baby was crying.

"We came back and we heard the voice again," Rasmila Awal said, her eyes widening at the memory.

The soldiers, having returned as well, resumed digging. And, miracle of miracles, 22 hours after the earthquake, the mother saw a soldier pull her baby out of the debris.

His face was coated with dust. But he was alive.

A photo of him being lifted from the rubble has become the defining image of a disaster that has devastated the country. His unlikely rescue has given hope to a nation that has experienced so much loss.

Sonies was taken to a nearby hospital. Doctors said he had suffered minor bruising and a small cut on his thigh. But he was OK. He was returned to his mother's arms.

"He just started smiling," Rasmila Awal said.

It was a happy ending.

Union Minister for Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan on Friday said that India has developed a "world class" disaster warning system in the last 10 years, claiming it to be "even better than some countries."
"When Tsunami came in the month of December 2004, you can say that we were literally taken by surprise. And the country virtually had no system to be able to (predict)," Dr Vardhan said during a visit to the Indian Association For the Cultivation of Science.
"Now within the last ten years, what we have in the country in 2015 is actually world-class, number one," Vardhan said, adding that India also helps other countries with early signals and warnings.[

"Scientifically, technologically we are comparable to the best in the world or may be even better than some countries across the ocean. It is a fact and something you feel proud of," the minister said.
When asked about the Nepal quake which has claimed thousands of lives, he said earthquakes cannot not only be scientifically predicted in India but all over the world.
Dr Vardhan called for an increased co-ordination among the fraternity of scientists in India.
He said that Indian scientists have connections with their counterparts from USA and Germany, but they do not know well about their country's researchers.
"They may not know people from their own fraternity. I am also co-ordinating on this and am calling a meeting next month where directors of all CSIR will be present," he said.
<snip>

Amber G. wrote:
"Now within the last ten years, what we have in the country in 2015 is actually world-class, number one," Vardhan said, adding that India also helps other countries with early signals and warnings.

He survived a massive earthquake that pummelled his home and endured the cold nights in squalid campsites, but 11-day-old Bhupender Karki is not only thriving but also perhaps enjoying his newfound celebrity status at Nepal’s biggest camp for quake survivors.

In keeping with a Nepali custom, the newborn’s naming ceremony was conducted on Friday, the eleventh day after birth, with a priest chanting hymns and putting a black ‘tika’ on the baby boy’s forehead and a red-and-yellow thread around his wrist.

Wrapped in a pink blanket, the baby slept through the ceremony. After the rituals, the priest distributed ‘puri’ and banana as ‘prasad’.

“You can call him Ramesh,” the priest told the baby’s parents. The parents had earlier told HT they would like a name linking him to the earthquake.

“We have decided to call him Bhupender (king of the earth),” said Bhagwati Karki, the baby’s aunt.

After the ceremony the family sat down for a meal of rice and curry.

The baby was only four days old when the bone-shaking temblor hit, forcing his parents, a sister and an aunt out of their damaged home in a middleclass neighbourhood in capital Kathmandu.

“He was still in hospital. When the earthquake came his cradle started swinging. We picked him up and hid under the staircase,” said Tekbahadur Karki, the baby’s grandfather.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/po ... epal-2.jpg
The newborn with parents Balram Karki and mother Munna Karki at the ceremony. (Gurinder Osan/ HT Photo)

Since then the family has moved through a couple of camps, finally settling down four days ago inside a crammed, blue tent alongside thousands of other survivors at Tundikhel in the heart of Kathmandu.

At the camp, Ramesh is the centre of attraction for children and women who streamed in through the day to see the baby who is beating the odds of a squalid camp life.

“What a first few days of his life! He is a lucky child,” said Suresh Thapa, who lives in a tent next to the Karki’s.

Ramesh’s is one of the many stories to emerge after the devastating earthquake.

Earlier this week, a five-month-old baby was pulled out alive from rubble 22 hours after the quake. A photo of Nepali soldiers lifting the boy, caked in dust, has become the defining image of the disaster.

Ankar wrote:

Thomas martienssen ‏@martienssen Apr 30
Indian Air Force helicopter came to pick up Indian nationals from lukla, no sign of any aid being dropped... #Nepal

Save the Children UK ‏@savechildrenuk Apr 30
Via @LynetteLimJY: helicopter airlifting relief to the hardest to reach places in #Nepal. http://bit.ly/1HDRqyC

Nirmal Ghosh ‏@karmanomad 30m30 minutes ago
#Kathmandu airport terminal now back to normal. Panic subsided, crowds gone #NepalEarthquake

Nepal ruled out the possibility Saturday of finding more survivors buried in the rubble from a massive earthquake that killed more than 6,700 people and devastated vast swathes of one of Asia's poorest countries.

One week on from Nepal's deadliest quake in over 80 years, hopes of detecting more signs of life among the ruins of the capital Kathmandu had all but disappeared and the focus was shifting to reaching survivors in far-flung areas who have yet to receive relief supplies.

The UN children's fund Unicef warned of a race against time to avert an outbreak of disease among the 1.7 million youngsters estimated to be living in the worst-hit areas, with monsoon rains just a few weeks away.

The 7.9-magnitude quake wreaked a trail of death and destruction when it erupted around midday last Saturday, reducing much of Kathmandu to rubble and even triggering a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest.

"It has already been one week since the disaster," home ministry spokesperson Laxmi Prasad Dhakal told AFP.

"We are trying our best in rescue and relief work but now I don't think that there is any possibility of survivors under the rubble."

As well as updating the death toll to 6,621, Dhakal put the number of injured at 14,023.

While multiple teams of rescuers from more than 20 countries have been using sniffer dogs and heat-seeking equipment to find survivors in the rubble, no one has been pulled alive since Thursday evening.

More than 100 people were also killed in India and China.

The exact scale of the disaster was still to emerge, with the mountainous terrain in the vast Himalayan nation complicating the relief effort.

The numbers of foreigners who have died was also unclear with around 1,000 EU citizens still unaccounted for in Nepal, according to diplomats.

Missing Europeans

The Europeans had mostly been climbing in the Everest region or trekking in the remote Langtang range in the Himalayas near the quake epicentre.

"They are missing but we don't know what their status is," EU ambassador to Nepal Rensje Teerink told reporters, confirming that 12 EU citizens are known to have died so far.

Another EU official said on condition of anonymity that the majority were likely to be found safe, but given the difficulty of the terrain and poor communications, their whereabouts were currently unknown.

Rameshwor Dangal, joint secretary of Nepal's National Disaster Management Division, said many people were waiting to either receive emergency aid supplies or else be airlifted to safety.

"In many areas people are not getting relief and it is natural that they are unhappy about it," he told AFP.

"We estimate that there may still be around 1,000 people in Sindhupalchowk and Rasuwa areas who need to be rescued. This includes the injured and the stranded people, including the foreigners."

AFP journalists who reached part of Sindhupalchowk on Friday reported scenes of utter devastation.

"Almost every house in my village is destroyed, and 20 people died. We lost our cattle and our sheep," said Kumar Ghorasainee, amid the ruins of his hometown of Melamchi.

The 33-year-old English teacher said the school had collapsed and there was nowhere for the children to go.

"No one has come to help us -- the cars and the aid trucks just drive by... How will we manage now?"

In Melamchi, shops and restaurants were closed and streets were mainly deserted.

In nearby rice-farming communities, almost all the houses had been so severely damaged that they were no longer habitable, and locals were sleeping in makeshift tents.


Disease fears

The Nepalese government has acknowledged being overwhelmed but the UN's humanitarian chief defended its performance.

"The scale and devastation wreaked by the earthquake and the aftershocks would have challenged any government," Valerie Amos said on Friday.

Unicef said the health and wellbeing of children affected by the disaster were "hanging in the balance" as so many had been left homeless, in deep shock and with no access to basic care.

"Hospitals are overflowing, water is scarce, bodies are still buried under the rubble and people are still sleeping in the open. This is a perfect breeding ground for diseases," said Rownak Khan, Unicef's deputy representative in Nepal.

"We have a small window of time to put in place measures that will keep earthquake-affected children safe from infectious disease outbreaks, a danger that would be exacerbated by the wet and muddy conditions brought on with the rains," added Khan.

Government of UP @UPGovt · 3h 3 hours ago
@UPGovt paramedics with 108 seva ambulances helping to rescue the affected in #Nepal

Jose Svensson ‏@wieslaw68 7m7 minutes ago
#svpol @shiptogaza Världens moralkompas Sverige skickade till Nepal 30pers. Israel se själv

Kathmandu: US military aircraft, heavy equipment and air traffic controllers will start arriving in Nepal from today as part of a US relief operation following the devastating earthquake, a senior US officer said.

The 7.8 magnitude quake that struck last Saturday killed at least 6,250 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless when it destroyed parts of the capital Kathmandu and flattened villages across a wide swath of the country.

Brigadier General Paul Kennedy of the US Marine Corps told Reuters the six military aircraft, including two helicopters, will arrive today, accompanied by 100 marines and lifting equipment under an agreement reached with Nepal's government earlier in the week.

The US military would help manage the growing piles of relief supplies clogging Nepal's only international airport, located in Kathmandu, which has struggled to distribute all the aid arriving from around the world since the earthquake.
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"What you don't want to do is build up a mountain of supplies," blocking space for planes or more supplies, Kennedy said.

The United Nations has said 8 million of Nepal's 28 million people were affected by the quake, with at least 2 million needing tents, water, food and medicines over the next three months.

Kennedy's own flight on a C-130 cargo plane was close to "a fuel emergency" because it had to spend some time circling over Kathmandu after a long flight from his base in Okinawa, Japan, on Wednesday, he said.

The general said the plan was part of a long practiced earthquake response in the most populated area of Nepal.

"Nepal serves as the worst-case scenario for military planners," Kennedy said on Friday, speaking at the American Club in Kathmandu, in a converted dance fitness studio now decorated with maps and occupied by a team of marines working on laptops.

"It is land-locked and there are only a small number of useable airfields that will handle military-sized aircraft," Kennedy said.

Experts have long predicted that a powerful earthquake in Kathmandu would kill up to 100,000 people, and injure close to a million, requiring a formidable international response. In the event, the toll was much lower.

Kennedy did not say how extensive the US presence in Nepal would grow after the initial arrival of four vertical take-off Osprey aircraft, two Bell Hueys and equipment such as forklift trucks to help move relief supplies at the airport.

Teams of soldiers carrying portable radars and including airstrip repair experts, will be sent to enable two provincial airports to receive heavy transport flights day and night.

The airports being considered to relieve the pressure on the international airport include one at trekking destination Pokhara and another near the birthplace of Buddha.

"Those are the ones capable of (handling) larger aircraft," he said.

He said the United States would not be involved in air-traffic operations at Kathmandu airport, which would raise questions of sovereignty.

"When you control the international gateway to any country, the last thing you really want to cede is the air tower, because they control who is coming and who is bringing what," he said.

Bade wrote:Properly constructed RCC structures have withstood the quake compared with run of the mill ones. Even the compound walls seems to be standing well. I see some damage to a free standing structure on the roof top in one of the homes. This corroborates with the expert (Miyato ?) who was quoted in the NYtimes blog about better awareness and construction quality in newer structures.