Day5: Nepal, Kathmandu Earthquake 2015: South African Rescue Mission

Day 5 on the ground. Sunday the 3rd of May 2015,

you can see some of the ground that was lifted up from the earthquake

the collapsed outdoor bathrooms

In the back ground you can see the landslides that occurred on the side of the mountain

In the morning the sun rose to shed some light on what we had experienced. Many of the smaller buildings at the camp site had come down, Several landslides could be seen around us. We had a huge raging and wide river near us and huge beautiful mountains surrounded us with a stunning waterfall.

in the photo above you can see how the dwellings are built on terraced mountain slopes and you can imagine that with enough movement that these terraces would simple collapse giving way to catastrophic landslides taking everything with it.

from this photot you can see th size of the boulders that get brought down from the mountains onto the river. If you follow the large boulder back up to the mountain you will see the path of the landslide

The butterflies were out as were the birds. The morning air was crisp and we took in the beauty around us.

We started to walk around and in the light we discovered a huge and long fissure that ran along the river and embankment from one end of the camp to the other due to the earth moving, it had opened up, rather too close for comfort. We did not have radio comms and meet with other teams to discover rescue efforts were well under way.

A clinic set up and the mountain folk started to trickle into camp slowly for medical assistance. One of the doctors from another international relief team bluntly put it, "they are either dead or walking" Food parcels and aid was making its way along the snake like trails up into the mountains by teams and sherpas. We were only 10km from the border of Tibet.

Most of the terrain was really tough and the average hike took about 4 hours in and four hours back to our base camp. After discussion with teams already there and the rest of the team it was decided that we could be put to better use elsewhere.

The covered tents looked really comfortable many of the international teams had already settled into the tents.

We then made up camp and made the drive some 10 km along dangerous roads until we had comms with our satellite phone. We then reported back to our base camp in Kathmandu. Unbeknown to us they had also felt the earth move with windows and doors shaking. The team back at base camp did not sleep well and were ready to set up a rescue mission to come and find us. Luckily we were were able to report back we were safe for now and on our way back.

pitstop!!!!

By going on our mission we prevented many of our doctors from coming all the way to us, only to find out that none of these villages needed surgeries. Most of the inured had already sought some help. The doctors were able to carry on with their surgeries in the various Kathmandu hospitals uninterrupted and they managed to perform a mammoth 103 surgeries in less than 10 days.

What was needed was shelter and rice. We passed this on and as such provisions made. We made our way back and in daylight the full reality of our quest lay bare, bodies floating naked in the rivers - we were told that if they do not know the person they would be stripped naked and thrown into the river, those who they knew would be cremated.

Some of the houses were flooded in the low lying areas, a motorbike crushed lay on the side of the road its rider's whereabouts unknown. Many people were waking on the roads making their way to the small villages along the roads. It was heartbreaking to see where entire families had been wiped out with perhaps just the family dog sitting on the rubble, some where only one family member sat on the rubble staring ahead.

The people were going about their work to rebuild and selvage what they could. The roads were shocking and in daylight we were able to see what we had missed in the dark and because of the rain and thunderstorms we had encountered the night before, a real concern was that we would encounter many landslides and would need to be airlifted out.

the destruction was massive...

both of these photos are from google and again show the terraced farming and villages

We had a minor accident when another bus in the opposite direction took our driver's side mirror out, actually it hit it so hard that the mirror and its bits simply vapourized! The drivers got out and after some negotiations money was exchanged and we were once again on our way.

The picture above gives you a good idea of how the terreaced homesteads and farming is found on the mountain slopes

It took us a long and tiring 4 hours with adrenaline surging through our veins and hearts pumping to finally get back to our base camp in Kathmandu safe and definitely not sound. Would I do it again, hell Yes in a heartbeat, Many people's lives were saved and changed due to our daring adventure into the mountains.

people were living out of these trucks

we were back and the tents left out to dry

Please note many of the photos were taken out the window in a fast moving Kathmandu Bus with me inwardly screaming and silently freaking out, so at times the quality is not great. but what a hell of a ride! Enjoy