By now you must have heard about the 7.8 earthquake which has struck Nepal. Reports are coming in that 90% of the homes in the Sindhulpalchok district have been destroyed with little help reaching there yet. Makalu Adventure’s office in Thamel survived the earthquake intact and fortunately all of our staff, guides, and families got through unscathed.
We had an Everest expedition team from South Africa at Base Camp who were some of the lucky ones who escaped when the quake struck and and triggered an avalanche. Our senior cook, who was climbing up to Camp 2 the day before however fractured his leg in a climbing accident so our managing director, Mohan Lamsal, quickly organized a helicopter evacuation for him and he is recuperating at our Eco Resort Hotel in Thamel. If it had been the next day then he might not have made it out so easily as a second avalanche hit Camp 1 and Camp 2 and destroyed the Kumbu Icefall Route. The Icefall Doctors are already busy constructing a new route. Some of the team has expressed the desire to continue their climb up to the peak as an example of "getting right back on the horse after a fall"
Two other clients from Britain who were on the Langtang Trek were staying in the Lama Hotel along the way when the quake hit. Fortunately they were outside but lost all of their gear when the building collapsed. They had to walk for 3 days to Kathmandu with only some light clothing and nothing else. Some of the locals along the way gave them blankets and other help. After they reached Kathmandu, we took them to the British embassy which promptly put them on an evacuation plane heading home.
Search, recovery, and relief operations have just begun to reach the more remote areas of which many of our past clients are quiet familiar with. Most housing, schools, health post, and government buildings in these areas have either collapsed or have been severely damaged. Also, unfortunately, it has been unseasonably cold and rainy bringing even more misery and health problems to the survivors who until now have had to live outside without food or shelter.
Mohan Lamsal, managing director of our company has set up a relief fund to acquire emergency supplies of tent, blankets, stoves, cooking utensils, medical supplies, etc. which will be sent to the most needy places according to our resources on the ground in many of the affected areas.
Makalu has received over 500 emails of sympathy and heartfelt concern from our friends and clients and we are very grateful for all such sentiments. If you would like to send a donation to our Makalu effort then we will make sure that it serves those who are in the most immediate need and who are not yet receiving any help yet from other sources. And we plan on expressing the gift as given from the list of donors as their love and friendship to the Nepali people. We will be documenting all of this activity so all will see where help has gone and been received.
There has been information coming through that the Nepal government has been asking import duty for materials which have been sent recently to Nepal. Our effort will avoid this problem by buying the relief supplies here in Nepal. So, if you would like to offer help through us you will be able to see a more personalized process from beginning to end.
Once again we wish to express our gratitude for your expressions of concern and sympathy for the people of Nepal.
If you would like to join our effort then please send to:
Makalu Adventure Pvt., Ltd.,
USD Ac No. – 019 001 4282 0034,
Himalayan Bank, Thamel Branch.
KSK Building, Thamel
Kathmandu, Nepal
TELEX No.: 2789 HIBA NP
SWIFT Code: HIMANPKA
T: + 977 1 4227749, 4250201; +977 1 4222800
