Day 2: Nepal, Kathmandu Earthquake 2015: South African Rescue Mission

Day 2 on the ground in Nepal Thursday 30 April 2015

Little did we know that 3 of us ladies in just a few weeks would follow our friend Saray Khumalo to Nepal on a rescue mission to rescue fellow South Africans and to assist the Nepalese people in the aftermath of one of the most deadliest earthquakes in our time.

The girls from Team Adrenaline. myself and our sons at OR Tambo saying our emotional goodbyes.

Photo Credit: Saray Khumalo

Saray and I at Hennops Hiking Trail

The girls and I were besides ourselves. Last year we sat in the same situation where another good mate Sibusiso Vilane and Saray were together on Everest [2014] when a huge avalanche hit and 16 people tragically lost their lives. Today we were listening and watching all the drama unfolding once again. When news of the quake hit social media on Saturday morning from my friends living in Nepal and in the middle of this tragedy, I contacted the girls, some were already onto it. We were stunned, shocked and we were finding it hard to believe that two years running such a terrible tragedy had hit Everest and Saray was there on Everest experiencing it both times in the middle of it. Tjoe. My hubby and I went out to watch rugby and share a "braai" with our close friends. They changed the large screen television channels so I could watch the terrible drama unfolding. The girls and I were chatting regularly to find out any updates on Saray. Was she still alive, how can one person survive a second avalanche, was this too much to ask. I was an emotional wreck. All I could think about was Saray on Everest fighting for her life, her poor husband and kids. Trying desperately to find out if Lysle was safe. What was going on.....so much emotion so much fear and we were so far away from what was gong on. If this is how I felt how the hell was everyone on the ground feeling, the fear, the terror. It was unimaginable. I went to church, lit candles for everyone and begged God to keep them safe. When the call from Gift of the Givers came in that I was deployed to Nepal I did not hesitate. I was going to Nepal to bring Saray back to her family! The bonus was Erika and Khadija would be there too.

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Our mission for the first 48 hours was to locate and assist as many South Africans as we could find. Fellow Firefighter/EMT Paul's brother was friends with a group that had been caught up in the popular Langtang area, one of the worst hit, while hiking with two Australian friends and Paul was able to assist in locating them and bringing them back to our basecamp. In the meantime they were safe with several other trekkers and were awaiting their turn to be airlifted via rescue helicopter. Again red tape was rearing its ugly head.

the Langtang region is appropriately known as the Valley of the Glaciers

(all Langtang Photos and maps taken from Google)

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We in the meantime were getting information from Everest Base Camp that all the South African's were accounted for and safe. My mate Saray Khumalo however was the only South African stranded with several others at Camp 2. She was on a glacier when all hell broke loose and both she and her guide managed to get back up to Camp 2 in one piece. Not everyone had their tents or sleeping equipment with them as they were training and acclimatizing and were to return back down to EBC. (Everest Base Camp). They had to all share what they had and huddle together, keeping warm while waiting to be rescued. Their only way back down via the Khumbu Ice Falls was a no go zone as most of it had been taken out when the avalanche tore through most of EBC and just below Camp 1. So much loss of life and so many injuries. For the guys stuck at Camp 1 and Camp 2 is was a race against the extreme cold, limited supplies and the poor weather had now also set in adding to the rescue challenges. As I lay in my warm bed I could not help but think of everyone stuck on Everest. I prayed God would spare them and bring back home safe to their loved ones.

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This image shows exactly where the avalanche camp from that killed 18 at Everest base camp on April 25th, 2015.)

Photo credits: news.nationalpost.com

Photo Credits: beforeitsnews.com

( Photo credits: BBC/Google) (Photo credits: www.ibtimes.com)
The avalanche fast approaching base camp

photos above and below: google/IBtimes

Photo: Google

Photo: Google Photo: BBC/Google

Photo Credits; Photo courtesy of Elia Saikaly and 6summitschallenge.com
Aftermath of the earthquake at the base camp of Mount Everest in Nepal on April 25, 2015.

Photo Credits Saray Khumalo/Ubuntu Everest 2015 with fellow

South African Donna McTaggart & Marlette Hegyi,
2 days before the beast struck

Photo Credits Saray Khumalo/Ubuntu Everest 2015 - Saray meeting other South Africans along the way

Photo Credits: Saray Khumalo/Ubuntu Everest 2015: Aftermath of the avalanche triggered by the Earthquake, 2 days after the monster struck

Below the treacherous Khumbu Icefalls

Photo credits:madisonmountaineering.com Photo credits: www.denverpost.com

(Photo credits Washington Post) (Photo credits: news.nationalgeographic.com )

Photo Credits: www.dailykos.com

The guys at EBC were fighting against time and superhuman strength was needed to dig out buried fellow climbers before it was too late. Sadly for many it was already too late as the voices in the Khumbu ice falls faded, the shock and disbelief at what was always considered a safe base camp was lying in tatters and death was in the air. Many said it was as though the avalanche exploded through base camp with large chunks of ice, rock and boulders slamming into tents and people. It is nothing short of a miracle that not many more were killed or injured.

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Another South African mate Lysle Turner was at base camp as were many other South Africans and he spent the rest of his time there assisting with rescue operations, what a legend! Such a humble guy with a huge heart. I had inboxed him asking him to give Saray a huge hug from me when he spots her at EBC. He did one better and told her that he had better send me a picture as proof. Below is the picture he sent me from EBC before the earthquake struck.

This photo was taken last year during Sean Disney's book launch. My son Jordan, Lysle and myself. Lysle and Paul Egnos were at school together. So for Paul and I this trip and bringing back the South Africans became personal.

I then got word that another mate Ronnie Muhl and his wife Elizabeth as well as their team were all safe. Ronnie has been to Everest many times and could be called an Everest Veteran!! He is a really cool guy passionate about mountains.

This photo was taken in November 2010. The year before Rachel and I had summited Mt Kilimanjaro.

It was also reported that some 18 odd school girls from a Pretoria high school, St Mary's Diocesan School had been on the World Challenge Team visit and had been trekking not far from base camp and were traumatised but making their way back to base camp to be rescued. Sean Wisedale, another South African and his group also reported in safe from base camp.

http://www.enca.com/south-africa/sa-schoolgirls-among-nepal-quake-survivors
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My mate Erika Gibson, a close friend and training partner of Saray was with me on this mission so was mutual friend Dr Khadija Akoojee (all from Team Adrenaline, a bunch of awesome, crazy and inspirational girls that support and train for adventures together). We were determined to bring our mate home safe to her husband and two boys. It was an anxious few days waiting for Saray to be rescued off camp 2. We were told that they were instructed to climb down from camp 2 to camp 1 where a rescue helicopter would rescue them back down to base camp.

This photo was taken soon after Erika had informed me that she had chatted to Saray and that she was okay. Big happy smiles but still worried, we would only rest once we had a visual on her in person!!

[the above picture shows both the region where the first quake hit on the 25th April 2015 and then on the 12 May 2015 where the second one hit, its epicentre where we had camped a few days before]

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What really struck home to me was at that moment the beast struck, thousands of people and animals where fighting for survival in what has been the worst earthquake in 32 years (some were saying in 84 years) all at the same time. From the climbers on the icy snow tops of Everest, to the climbers engulfed in the khumbu ice falls, to the nearly thousand odd people at Everest Base camp then back down on the mountain slopes the battle for survival raged within the many trekkers and hikers, to all the villages along the upper and lower mountains, down to the valleys, towns and eventually to the bigger cities of Kathmandu, all fighting simultaneously to live, to survive. Many others never knew what hit them, the monster took them without giving them a chance to fight. Each battle unaware of the other battles waging below, above and around them, This picture kept on bouncing around in my head especially keeping up with all the posts from people all over Nepal, posting their pain, the destruction and death around them. The pleas for help, social media had brought this all together into one huge overwhelming task. Where to begin.....

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Our morning briefing and it was now also raining adding further safety issue to consider.

We made our way to Bhaktapur and Harishhidi with our rescue equipment and Life Locator.
Bhaktapur is the third city and is considered a mediaeval gem. It is not often visited by tourists. It is around 14km east of Kathmandu and is almost an entirely Neward city that is strongly independent of Kathmandu. Some of the people who live here can not even speak Nepali. It is as if time stood still here.

We parked our vehicle close to this bridge as we could not bring the vehicles over this bridge and had to carry all our heavy equipment taking turns for about 1 km.

Walking over the bridge, the water here was very polluted and smelt really bad.

[Me and the boyz on the bridge]

Its main attractions is the Durbar Square with its Palace of Fifty Five Windows, here as with the rest of this city many of the buildings had been damaged by previous earthquakes. much of the reconstruction work was been done by the Bhaktapur Development Projects, a German-sponsored urban renewal programme. to help with the restoration there is an entrance fee. Now much of the work done lay in ruins as we walked through the rubble together with other international rescue teams.

the debrief and it's a go

a life stopped, a crushed bike and baskets that stored food and rice lay in the rubble. the hands that used them are no more

Evidence of lives that had come to an abrupt halt, personal belongings and items strewn across the streets, exposing a simple way of life that has continued for centuries and will continue for centuries to come. These people have so little and now many had nothing. It was a very sobering and emotional experience, that we as strangers from another land, another culture, would get to walk through a time gone and people's lives, some of who are no longer here, the only evidence they existed now lay in the rubble below our boots.

We used spray paint to mark the buildings that we checked with [RSA Gift Date Time] and indicated if there were bodies and their location, or if any live people had been pulled out.

Some time later I was walking along here when I heard what sounded like rocks coming down off one of the "tin" roofs. I ran very fast until I was clear, then looked up to discover 2 cats fighting on the roof. Working and walking in and around the rubble with all the constant aftershocks made you react to anything and everything.

Many of the guys experienced the same type of incidents while here much to the amusement of the team. Everyone's sensors and reflexes were heightened!

There was just so much destruction here, lots of broken water pipes and the rain creating a lot of dampness. The smell of destruction and dust was overwhelming. In some areas you could smell the bodies. Many international teams were already on site removing rubble. For us though today we had to settle for simply locating the bodies and marking the buildings for the local authorities as we did not have all our PPE (remember it had been left behind by the brilliant Singapore airlines) and could not put our lives in unnecessary danger to recover a body. It was extremely frustrating as by nature we save lives and we wanted to desperately get stuck in. We could only do this from day 4 - Saturday after our bags arrived late on Friday afternoon.

There were many tunnels like this one which opened out into a courtyard surrounded by multiple storey dwellings which were not very stable to begin with. A lot of straw, mud and clay used. So many of these buildings just simply "pancaked". There is no formal building regulations so reinforced concrete to add on extra floors is not seen, everything is just so thin and flimsy. I was so surprised not more buildings had not come down.As rescures walking between these building was really not ideal or safe. Each time a aftershock occurred more of these homes would come down, so work was done quickly and time in some of the areas reduced for safety reasons.

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While we were busy some of the team improved on our showers creating a bit more privacy and 18h00 to 20h00 was the girls time to shower and from 20h00 onwards all the guys. We used camping shower bags, which we would fill up and leave out in the sun to heat up. Once they were finished it was only really cold water for the rest of the evening.

we even had a washing line!!!

our bin and sleeping area

The guys built a stretcher with bamboo, we however were asked not to use it as in Nepal bamboo stretchers were used to carry the dead for cremation.

We finally had wifi not that it was stable and it was an art to gain signal so when we did it was time to update and get in touch with our worried families.

then it was off to the shops to buy food, supplies, a pair of undies each and a t-shirt, socks, toothbrushes and toothpaste and ofcourse liquid soap!!

Kathmandu was bustling with activities that at times it was hard to believe a massive earthquake had actually occurred. Life simply had to carry on.

when we got back with an armful of cleaning materials, the awesome heroes got stuck into the bathroom scrubbing the loos and basins. some of them puked, won't say who but eish dont blame them.

"who you gonna call the "shit busters"

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Chatting to the French team and being interviewed by SABC

Dinner time

Time to hit the sack after another busy day and everyone was excited to have more blankets and pillows arrive, with an extra pair of brooks and socks much to the amusement of all. One size fits all does not always apply - not with our larger South African boytjies!! Note all the missing bags around the mattresses!!

We had started to settle in but could not wait for tomorrow when our bags would arrive so we could put clean clothes on and get all our PPE and rescue equipment. Team 2 with all the surgeons would be arriving on a plane as well as extra supplies, tents, food via a chartered plane. so the rest of the day and morning was spent on setting up sleeping arrangements for another 50 people on the Little Angels campus. Again the bathrooms proved to be the biggest challenge.

At night many dogs who seemed to be ferrel would run around the campus, some of which were a little aggressive. We knew when an aftershock was coming as they would start to howl in a strange way and the birds would suddenly become very vocal. I have to confess every time I heard the dogs barking I would brace myself for the worst, funny how back home you would ignore such a thing, but here it meant fear.

Adventure with a purpose!™

The Team Zodwa Project ™

Photo Credits: written in under the photos where possible/ Kim Williams Copyright/GOTG/SA Media/ Team1 & Team 2 RSA/Google/
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Warmest