Last night Liebi told me that one of her Facebook friends had written to her about a Nepal earthquake, one that allegedly had originated from the Chinese-Indian border.
My feelings about the earthquake itself are mixed. Obviously, my first reaction was relief that we had escaped. When we were in Kathmandu, I was often tortured by the possibility of an earthquake, where I would be, and whether there would be any chance of saving my children when it struck. I could never quite shake the looming image of an earthquake in Kathmandu, not until the end, and it was this image that tainted my stay in Nepal itself. My second reaction, obviously, was directed at Kathmandu and its people. There are not many cities in the world that have suffered the hardships Kathmandu has, so an earthquake in Nepal is as welcome as an old missile you just dug up in your backyard. Of course, it doesn't help that most houses that have been built in Nepal are fragile and don't adhere to any specific code. It's the same old story, but with a new chapter. Why a city sitting on one of the most active vault lines in the world would allow houses to be built that have the fortitude and strength of cardboard, at best, is beyond me. It's as silly as holding a sandcastle building competition in a carwash. Yet this seems to be the story in places like Haiti, China, and name the disaster area of your choice: the complete absence of a Plan B, a lack of preparation that will eventually have the incompetent higher-ups hurry to point fingers at what went wrong and what should have been done.
This earthquake itself killed 50, I understand, which means Nepal and Kathmandu, in particular, got off light. A 6.9 earthquake pales compared to the one that knocked the earth of its axis last year, but it can still level entire cities if its origin, the epicenter, is in the right (in this case wrong) place. In the case of Kathmandu Valley, you would be talking disaster that hasn't been witnessed in the west since World War II. Some photos in the daily online journals reported that the wall of the British Embassy crumbled down, instantly killing three people, including an eight year old girl. That alone was enough to give me the shakes. I was active a lot in that area. Besides formal functions that needed to be attended at the British Embassy, there is also the British Council next door, where I would have certain dealings due to my studies with the University of London. Across from the British Embassy is also the finest clinic, CIWEC, in Kathmandu, meaning this was the place Axl was brought to when he was under the weather and needed an IV needle to save him. This was also the place where Liebi would get her sonograms when she was pregnant with Bash. This is where we would have our kids' biannual checkups, so we knew the area very well. The British Embassy is located near Lazimpat Road, which is probably the busiest road in Kathmandu. I also imagine the American Embassy, the only building in Kathmandu that is seismically safe, still standing proud, its foundation unshaken. A tree in the backyard might have lost a leaf or two, but that's the possible extent of the damage, if there was any.
So the good news is that it was a 6.9 and caused only marginal damage to Kathmandu. The bad news is that the bigger one is still out there and will not be as forgiving to the non-existent building codes and an incompetent government who can't look beyond lunch when it comes to future planning. Prayers to Nepal, a much abused country that certainly deserves better.
My feelings about the earthquake itself are mixed. Obviously, my first reaction was relief that we had escaped. When we were in Kathmandu, I was often tortured by the possibility of an earthquake, where I would be, and whether there would be any chance of saving my children when it struck. I could never quite shake the looming image of an earthquake in Kathmandu, not until the end, and it was this image that tainted my stay in Nepal itself. My second reaction, obviously, was directed at Kathmandu and its people. There are not many cities in the world that have suffered the hardships Kathmandu has, so an earthquake in Nepal is as welcome as an old missile you just dug up in your backyard. Of course, it doesn't help that most houses that have been built in Nepal are fragile and don't adhere to any specific code. It's the same old story, but with a new chapter. Why a city sitting on one of the most active vault lines in the world would allow houses to be built that have the fortitude and strength of cardboard, at best, is beyond me. It's as silly as holding a sandcastle building competition in a carwash. Yet this seems to be the story in places like Haiti, China, and name the disaster area of your choice: the complete absence of a Plan B, a lack of preparation that will eventually have the incompetent higher-ups hurry to point fingers at what went wrong and what should have been done.
This earthquake itself killed 50, I understand, which means Nepal and Kathmandu, in particular, got off light. A 6.9 earthquake pales compared to the one that knocked the earth of its axis last year, but it can still level entire cities if its origin, the epicenter, is in the right (in this case wrong) place. In the case of Kathmandu Valley, you would be talking disaster that hasn't been witnessed in the west since World War II. Some photos in the daily online journals reported that the wall of the British Embassy crumbled down, instantly killing three people, including an eight year old girl. That alone was enough to give me the shakes. I was active a lot in that area. Besides formal functions that needed to be attended at the British Embassy, there is also the British Council next door, where I would have certain dealings due to my studies with the University of London. Across from the British Embassy is also the finest clinic, CIWEC, in Kathmandu, meaning this was the place Axl was brought to when he was under the weather and needed an IV needle to save him. This was also the place where Liebi would get her sonograms when she was pregnant with Bash. This is where we would have our kids' biannual checkups, so we knew the area very well. The British Embassy is located near Lazimpat Road, which is probably the busiest road in Kathmandu. I also imagine the American Embassy, the only building in Kathmandu that is seismically safe, still standing proud, its foundation unshaken. A tree in the backyard might have lost a leaf or two, but that's the possible extent of the damage, if there was any.
So the good news is that it was a 6.9 and caused only marginal damage to Kathmandu. The bad news is that the bigger one is still out there and will not be as forgiving to the non-existent building codes and an incompetent government who can't look beyond lunch when it comes to future planning. Prayers to Nepal, a much abused country that certainly deserves better.
