Nepal’s Nightmare: Tales of Survival
We all look to the horizon when we feel danger coming. It is just instinct. But we rarely look down or expect the deadly force of nature to come from the ground beneath our feet. We are taught to think of the ground as solid and as safe. That may be one small reason that even though everyone in Nepal had heard that an earthquake was coming, still no-one was prepared.
MAN (Translation): The house was just shaking and then it all fell, it all fell apart.
KAMAL DEV BHATTARAI, KATHMANDU POST (Translation): From there we saw Kathmandu was covered in plumes of dust and after that Kathmandu turned into a disaster zone.
Every aftershock, more buildings collapsed. Everyone moved outside and that is where many have stayed. Kathmandu's few remaining spaces are now filled with tent cities. That is where Meggie Palmer met a little girl named Ansika.
REPORTER: Hi. Namaste.
ANSIKA, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR: Namaste.
REPORTER: Australia. Where are you from?
ANSIKA: Here.
REPORTER: Here. Are you staying here?
ANSIKA: Yes, I am staying here now.
REPORTER: Do you want to show me your tent? Yes. We will go with you. OK.
Ansika is 10 years old. She loves reading, jumping and running. This is her new backyard.
REPORTER: Do you remember when the earthquake happened?
ANSIKA: Yeah. I was in the road and it was ... all I was shaking and I fell down altogether. After we all were running, some were not very close and only wearing panties and running also.
She and her family are among almost 3 million Nepali people who have been displaced.
ANSIKA: It is too dangerous, so I am staying here. Five or six days I think we will stay here.
What she doesn't realise is that it is likely to be much, much longer. Ansika is still in primary school, but even she knows the response on the ground has been inadequate.
ANSIKA: We need help, but nobody a supporting us. At night it was raining, so we are wet.
Her auntie feels like the Nepali government has failed its people.
RESHIMA DAS, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR (Translation): The government in this country is in a very critical state, there are too many politicians here but there is no leader to think about the country from their heart.
Even though Nepal has roughly the same population as Australia, there are no local or state governments here, Nepal's politicians can't even manage to agree on a Constitution, so there is not much in the way of emergency planning here. People are used to being self-reliant and this clean-up is no different, volunteers from all walks of life form a human chain, an impromptu production line, to remove the rubble, the tonnes and tonnes of rubble.
JOAN NICELL, VOLUNTEER: You see these little kid's shoes and these are people's clothes.
I am in the area known as the Old Town of Kathmandu. It was a famous World Heritage site. Last time I was in Nepal, I came here as a tourist, admiring the impressive temples. How quickly things can change. On the day of the quake, there was a blood donation clinic set up in the temple which stood here. No-one knows how many people were inside.
ROSNEE BHATTARARA, VOLUNTEER: We think that somebody is buried over here. We can smell the dead body. We are trying to save the people. If we can't, we want to give their dead bodies to their respective families.
It is dirty, dusty, tiring work. This lady had to be helped by paramedics at the site of collapsing from exhaustion. The Prime Minister came to this site to visit the volunteers, but it didn't feel like he was entirely welcomed. Locals were yelling at him to go away saying, "We want to go back to work".
REPORTER: What would you like to say to the international community?
He didn't stay long.
MAN: Back to work, back to work!
The country's politicians have plenty to answer for.
REPORTER: You had a lot of warning that something like this might happen?
GAGAN THAPA: Yes.
REPORTER: Do you feel that the city was prepared?
GAGAN THAPA: Not at all.
Gagan Thapa is a politician, a member of the ruling party who is nevertheless sharply critical of his own government for not preparing for the inevitable and making short-sighted decisions like housing their search and rescue squad in one of Kathmandu's oldest buildings.
GAGAN THAPA: In the very first tremor, 15 of the policemen jumped from a three-storey building,
because the building collapsed and all the rescuers, of course the first thing they did was rescue their colleagues. Look at the place where they were living, where they were staying - the oldest house in Kathmandu, Avendon House. I mean, look at the preparedness or the mindset of the government and the policymakers.
When tragedy struck Gagan Thapa didn't turn to his colleagues. Instead, he rushed out to buy every tent that he could find - 200 in total - and then organised volunteers to distribute them. Ad hoc groups of local Nepali volunteers have provided most of what little relieve has come to date. But without any large-scale state coordination, most areas in Nepal have still received no help at all.
GAGAN THAPA: Completely a coordination failure.
REPORTER: A complete failure?
GAGAN THAPA: A complete failure to coordinate. The rescue, the response and, of course, we are even failing in the state of relieve.
It wasn't long before foreign volunteers started flooding in to Kathmandu's primitive airport. Amongst them were Red Cross rescue teams and a group of Nepali-Australian nurses. They had flown themselves all the way from Australia to help with the relieve effort. But, their medical supplies don't arrive and no one can seem to tell them where to begin.
NURSE: Maybe tomorrow then we can organise what we are going to do, about picking up the luggage No. 1 and maybe after that we will head to Sindhupalchowk.
KAMAL DEV BHATTARAI (Translation): Immediately after the earthquake, lots of foreign support started coming in. And it all got stuck at the airport for two or three days, and the government agencies weren’t able to clear it.
Kamal is a journalist for the Kathmandu Post their office was wrecked in the quake and now Kamal and his colleagues are working out of tents, set up next door to their printing press. Kamal says that the uncoordinated rush of foreign aid may have actually slowed relieve getting to survivors.
KAMAL DEV BHATTARAI (Translation): They’re more focused on publicising their country’s effort and taking credit.
COORDINATOR: We are in contact with the governor of that district so he is trying to fix where we will be.
The next day, the Australian nurses are still struggling to find a place to volunteer. They end up at a mobile Army hospital set up by the Chinese government, whose border is just over 100km away.
DR DENG, CHINESE MEDICAL TEAM: They brought all of the medical equipment from China, including DR, Removable Digital X-Ray machine.
All over Nepal, where local authorities fail, we see Chinese troops appearing in their place. The Chinese medics' arrival means that there is now little for the Australian nurses to do here. They simply tour the medical unit. The people being treated here are mostly from one of the districts hit hardest by the earth quake, the remote area of Sindhupalchowk.
SABINA GIRI (Translation): My shoulder is broken, I can’t move this hand.
Sabina Giri is 17 years old. Her father died six years ago and her mother just died in the earthquake.
TRANSLATOR (Translation): What happened in your neighbourhood?
SABINA GIRI (Translation): There were 5 or 6 houses, all of them collapsed. And 5 of us are injured. Three died and one of the girls with us died as well. And all the cattle died too. Not a single house is in good condition.
The drive to Sindhupalchowk winds on for hours through vast hills and remote villages that right now have almost no connection with the outside world. When we finally arrive, the scene is, indeed, overwhelming. Rural Nepali towns like this will most likely never be the same, but every so often, you do see a smile.
SURVIVOR (Translation): I survived so I do think I’m lucky. Both my daughter and I could have died there.
RESCUER (Translation): We pulled five people alive from this house. That was after the first earthquake. As soon as it stopped we pulled out five people alive.
My heart nearly stops when he climbs back into the same building for a moment. I can't tell if he is fearless or still in shock.
SURVIVOR (Translation): If he hadn’t pulled us out, we would have died by the time the army got there.
The sickeningly sweet smell of death hangs heavily in the air here, especially as I pass a destroyed house where Chinese responders are digging.
MAN (Translation): It’s been 5 or 6 days and the government hasn’t been able to do anything, now the Chinese are searching the place.
KAMAL DEV BHATTARAI (Translation): A lot of rescue teams came from overseas. But the government didn’t send them to the required areas in time so many who could have been rescued weren’t.
It is my job to witness things, to stand there and watch and that can be an awful thing to have to do. Eventually two bodies are dragged from the rubble, a mother and son who were not lucky enough to be rescued.
The painstaking search is also continuing in the city. We see rescue crews from around the world descending on Nepal. This small country sits on a geo political fault line, sandwiched between two superpowers - India and China. Both are providing welcome assistance, whilst hoping to maintain their influence, even in times of disaster.
CHINESE RESCUER: The local people told us that there are three dead bodies under the building, so we are trying to get more information. First we use the dog to search.
It is tough, dangerous work. Very occasionally they are rewarded with a miracle survivor. One international crew had searched this site and cleared it, ready for demolition. But they were wrong, as the bulldozers moved in, they heard screams. Rescuers worked late into the night and finally pulled out a young woman alive after five days trapped. Nepal told some countries not to bother sending search and rescue teams, confident they had it under control. I can't help but think if extra help had arrived, maybe some more people might have been saved.
Cameraman Dave Ollier and I are filming in this middle class neighbourhood in Kathmandu when we meet Krishna and his brother.
REPORTER: Krishna, good to meet you.
KRISHNA: OK, thank you.
Krishna is studying accounting and lives with his parents and siblings. We go with him, as he heads home for the first time since the disaster.
REPORTER: Where were you when the earthquake actually hit?
KRISHNA: I was on the fifth floor of my home.
REPORTER: The fifth floor? Really?
KRISHNA: Yeah, my home got shaken after the earthquake and so we had to rush downwards. But yet we survived, all of our family members are fine. No one is injured, I’m happy with it.
REPORTER: So this is my house.
KRISHNA: This is my home.
REPORTER: Which colour, which one is it?
KRISHNA: White.
We head inside and up to the fifth floor. Krishna tells me that the property is totally fine, but he admits it is not yet been properly assessed.
REPORTER: So you haven't been up here, have you yet?
KRISHNA: No, ma'am, not yet. I am just here now, along with you.
REPORTER: Is it confronting to see all of the mess?
KRISHNA: Obviously. But we are happy that no human lives were lost, you know.
Krishna feels like the government should have planned for this better. Nepal sits on top of a known fault line. Seismic experts have been saying for years that a disaster of this magnitude was inevitable and yet, there is no enforced building code in the country. They introduced one in 2001, but it is not even compulsory.
KRISHNA: Now I think government should implement new building code so that there won’t be such damages if any new earthquake happens to be here in our country.
Next door to his house, and all around the city, damaged building demolition is beginning. It’s risky and can cause further collapses but we weren’t expecting that to happen just next to us.
REPORTER: Dave, are you OK? Dave? Dave, go. What happened? Oh, my God. Are you OK? Are you OK? OK, so we were just with the Chinese search and rescue team and we heard a building collapse. We don't know what has happened, but it wasn't fun. Is everyone OK? Krishna, are you OK? Are you alright? What just happened? Are you OK?
KRISHNA: They were searching and when they pulled out something, something collapsed.
REPORTER: Are you shaking? I am shaking. Everyone is very on edge here. There have been aftershocks at night, during the day and when we are in here filming these parts of the disaster zone, we are always conscious of, especially buildings like this, that are leaning over, because we know it doesn't take much for it to fall over. That was a bit too close for comfort.
The locals' nerves are tougher than mine. A collapse of yet another building as you are walking by is nothing compared to what this community and this country has lost. We head to another town in the Kathmandu valley, amidst this destruction, signs of life. I see people returning to their houses, slowly, cautiously, retrieving whatever they can. Nature's lottery is cruel. Seemingly untouched homes side-by-side with rubble.
KRANTI KAYASTHA, EARTHQUAKE VICTIM: My positive feeling is like nothing the permanent in this world. Everything is temporary. So this is also temporary. Soon we will rebuild it and I have some positive feelings about that. Earthquake will also not last forever.
There hasn't even been time or space on holy ground to put the more than 7,000 dead to rest. Living amongst all of these precarious buildings would be like living in a minefield for a long while to come. Yet, Kamal seems somehow undaunted when he talks about the days ahead.
KAMAL DEV BHATTARAI (Translation): The impact of this earthquake on Nepal’s economy will be felt for at least another 10 years. Nepal’s education, tourism and overall economy will be affected.
There are signs that normalcy is returning. Even the tent camps that sprang up on every patch of open land, they are starting to thin out.
Walking around, you hear the sounds of children laughing and playing. They are making their own fun. Schools are closed until further notice. They can't open soon enough for Ansika. She has big plans.
REPORTER: What do you want to be when you grow up?
ANSIKA: I want to be a doctor.
REPORTER: A doctor? Why is that?
ANSIKA: Because we can help the sick people.
Her country's future is uncertain and her family's housing predicament will take a while to fix. But Ansika's vision remains clear.
ANSIKA: I will study hard and be kind and help others.
I suppose I shouldn't have been so surprised when I opened up the Kathmandu Post the next morning and found modestly placed amongst the photos of the devastation, some familiar words: Hope is the thing with fathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.
Reporters
AARON LEWIS
MEGGIE PALMER
Story Producers
AARON THOMAS
GEOFF PARISH
Cameras
DAVE OLLIER
AARON LEWIS
AARON THOMAS
Special thanks to drone operator
PAUL BORRUD
Researcher
JAMES ELTON-PYM
Fixers
SOMESH VERMA
TEJ BISTA
Translations
RAJISH ARYAL
SUNITA SHRESTHA
SAMEER GHIMIRE