Earthquake Damage

I'm sure many people are wondering about earthquake damage.  We were too.   To be honest we've seen very little.  One guard post was half crumpled into a heap of stones with a new building constructed just uphill.  And our lodge in Mong La had carpenters hard at work rebuilding their outdoor toilet.   There seem to be two reasons for how little damage we've seen.   One is that the Khumbu region wasn't hit nearly as hard as some other areas of Nepal.  The other is that this is one of the wealthiest areas of the country.  Many people make a fairly good living from the tourist trade up here, so they had the money to repair or rebuild  ( or were able to borrow it).   Now they are waiting for the tourists to return.  If enough of us come in 2016 this region will recover just fine. So if you can afford to travel and have ever considered a trip to Nepal, this would be a great year to do it.   

Just because we haven't seen much damage doesn't mean it isn't here.   One lodge owner told me the story of the week after the earthquake in her life.  Both of her children go to school in Kathmandu.  She talks with them every day.   But all the cell towers were damaged in the quake and travel to Kathmandu was not an option.  So every day she walked for hours in tears, searching for a cell signal so she could find out  if her sons had survived.   She said many lodge owners had husbands who were guiding trekking groups and they had to wait days or weeks to find out if they had survived as well.  

And the Khumbu region has been lucky.  Many other regions were much harder hit.  Aid is still tied up in political wrangling and very little international aid has been distributed. This means that people are living in tents or under tarps in the bitter cold.   The most vulnerable are dying of the cold.  Others are abandoning their homes and walking to lower areas where the temperature is warmer. We've met some people from those regions.   It's a painful topic and not one we bring up lightly with anyone, but everyone has stories to tell.  Some of you have asked about the best ways to help.  We hope to find out more about that in the next few days and will keep you posted.  

- Meg