Well, it’s been quite the week in Nepal! The Red Cross Emergency Response team deployed staff and medical equipment and supplies by helicopter to the remote town of Dhunche in order to support the badly damaged district hospital there.
Fortunately, the roads reopened within a week of the earthquake and we were able to begin transporting supplies by truck. The team moved quickly to set up camp, assist the local medical staff with their workload and begin mobile clinics on foot to reach otherwise inaccessible communities around Dhunche.
In the meantime, our remaining team back in Kathmandu was also asked to deploy an outpatient clinic to an area just south of the Chinese border that had experienced catastrophic damage during the earthquake. The roads into the area were so clogged with debris from landslides that it took three attempts before we were able to get our vehicles to the village of Khukondole, where the team set up our clinic and immediately began treating patients. Our team was the first aid of any kind to reach the area.
Meanwhile, back in Kathmandu, my job as the Medical Logistics delegate involved dividing up the medical equipment, supplies and medications of one field hospital in order to support our two separate operations. On May 11th, our team medical coordinator and I went on a site visit to Khukondole to deliver supplies and assess the team's impact on the community. During the three and a half hour drive through the mountains, I saw firsthand the unimaginable destruction caused by the earthquake - entire villages either reduced to rubble or completely flooded by rivers choked with debris. Some people remained camping out under tarps in damaged homes which clung precariously to the side of the mountain. But even more horrifying were the gaping holes where homes had lost their tenuous grip and slid down into the river rushing below.
Our team in Khukondole was very busy, seeing over 50 patients per day - even
delivering a baby on their first day in operation. Patients were walking four to five hours over rough terrain each way to get medical care and were extremely grateful for our presence. I returned to Kathmandu later that day with a sense of accomplishment and pride in our teams' work in both Dhunche and Khukondole.
The next day, just before 1 pm, I was in a meeting with our team leader on the ground floor of our hotel when the ground started to shake. As the tremors intensified we quickly realized that this was no ordinary aftershock and rushed outside to an open area in front the hotel. It was surreal to see the buildings around us swaying back and forth as the ground undulated beneath our feet.
When the ground finally stopped moving, we joined our colleagues in the Red Cross compound down the street and began contacting our teams to make sure they were safe. Dhunche quickly reported in but it seemed like hours before we were able to speak to the team in Khukondole which was only 16 km from the epicenter of the 7.3 magnitude earthquake. They reported that no patients or staff had been injured but the quake had triggered landslides all around them and they were covered in dust.
Due to the threat of ongoing aftershocks, we've been sleeping in tents under the stars for the past few days. The second quake had devastating effects on communities already ravaged by the first one.
Canadians are encouraged to donate to the Nepal Region Earthquake Fund.