correction: the actual USGS statement said “avalanches and landslides”
I am so happy that people’s friends are OK.
Still sending the best for people who are still waiting for news.
That story magnetron posted is heartbreaking. They are expecting the death toll to rise significantly. So thankful my friends are ok. Did I mention this is the second time they were caught in an earthquake while traveling?
There is still a local resident here who has not been heard from… 
We just got word that one of my classmate’s families (didn’t elaborate on which family member) is among those dead.
Sorry to hear that @romanigypsyeyes.
Just finished watching today’s national news coverage. Sounds like things are much worse as aid/media starts getting in and more news comes out. And then there are the secondary considerations present from such disasters with disease, etc. It’s a little frustrating to see so much coverage of Everest and a handful of westerners when tens of thousands or more of Nepalese are being affected. I guess if it draws attention to the disaster and help raise aid and $, the end result is a good one.
So sorry to hear that, romani.
My uncle has finally heard from almost everyone except a few cousins. It was so nice to wake up this morning to confirmed safety checks from some of my Facebook friends.
Fidelity Investment’s Charitable Gift Fund arm sent out an email in the past hour highlighting some charities that they have confirmed are already engaged on the ground in Nepal and/or working with affected communities. Unfortunately, as we all know from past disasters, some shysters take advantage of situations like this. Of course, do your own due diligence but thought I would pass along the info in case it is helpful to anyone. Doctors without Borders is always a personal favorite.
http://fidelitycharitable.org/about-us/news/04-27-2015.shtml
Found out that HS classmate and family are okay, although sleeping outdoors like everyone else. Friend’s D able to fly out to Delhi, since she and friends determined that the most useful thing they could do right now was get out of the way.
Red cross/family links registry for missing people in Nepal: http://familylinks.icrc.org/nepal-earthquake/en/Pages/Home.aspx
I don’t understand.
The death toll passed 6,000…
I think it’s going to be much more than 6,000, even more than 10,000, unfortunately. Hearing of them pulling people out alive even today, 5 days after the quake, leaves me with such mixed emotions. SO happy for those survivors, yet so saddened wondering how many others might be in a similar situation and won’t be reached in time due to the widespread devastation and limited resources.
emeraldkitty, they brought out pregnant women but not the surrogate mothers who, as I read the coverage in the Israeli press, had given birth, handed the child to the parents and gone on with their lives. The process is apparently that the family lives with the child in Nepal for a period of time before taking the baby home. I don’t see why Israel would bring a bunch of Nepalese women out of their country and away from their families rather than provide aid in Nepal, which is exactly what Israel is doing. The planes that brought out babies and parents had first brought in medical and other aid teams. Israel was one of the first countries to show up with aid, just as they were in Haiti and more recently in the Phillipines, possibly because they have emergency field hospitals ready for deployment along with staff. Within a few days of the quake, the IDF set up a hospital that, from the news story, “include 60 beds for hospitalization and treatment of the casualties. Two operating theaters will operate simultaneously, in contrast to the previous occasion an Israeli team was there, when only one theater could function at any given time. The team will have X-ray and ultrasound machines, as well as a laboratory for testing blood.” They’ve been treating up to 200 people a day, though I gather the actual total is more around 100 a day. They reported yesterday doing 3 life saving operations and a caesarian section on Thursday. A drop in the bucket but more than nearly all other countries are doing.
This has opened a debate - that will go nowhere - about the issue of surrogacy in Israel, meaning mostly gay families and the need for them to go overseas. It will go nowhere because the devout won’t let it go anywhere.
I have heard projections based on geological data that after village death tolls are established, the numbers will be many times 10,000. Outside Magazine had a list of organizations on the ground working with Nepali people long term, who will be best to work with recovery after the initial crisis past. http://www.outsideonline.com/1972776/nepal-earthquake-how-help?utm_source=dispatch&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=04302015&spMailingID=22571909&spUserID=NzQ1NjIxNjE4NDgS1&spJobID=543152907&spReportId=NTQzMTUyOTA3S0
Though some of the traditional groups, Doctors without Borders, etc do a great job with initial crisis response. I had information from an anthropologist with sources in Nepal that Mercy Corps is doing a good job right now, and getting into needed areas better than some. Yesterday I was looking up charities and rather appalled with the CEO salaries earned at some of the bigger organizations.
It was now 35 years ago that I did the Annapurna trek, and fell in love with the Nepali people and landscapes.