UPDATE: Champaign-Urbana Nepali Community Organizes To Help Earthquake Victims

[Update in process on May 12, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.]

On Saturday, April 25, 2015, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal destroying buildings and infrastructure. Officials are reported over 8,000 dead and over 14,000 were injured. Now a second earthquake, hit Tuesday. This 7.3 magnitute earthquake caused further damage has killed at least 40 more and injured over 900 while further damaging to Nepal's infrusturture and ability to rebuild. 

The Atermath of Tuesday's Earthquake

Atul Nepal is a member of the Nepali Student Association on the University of Illinois’ Urbana campus. He has been speaking with family in Nepal. Nepal says he woke Tuesday morning to a message from his mother that there had been another big earthquake. He reached his family soon after. They are telling him that structures that were already weakened before have collapsed. "They were already scared from the previous round, this one brought a new round of fear to them," he said. Once again, because they do not know the level of structural damage or when an aftershock might hit people are scared to step inside those structures that are still standing.

Sital Uprety is an engineering student at the University of Illinois and another member of the Nepali Student Association. "I called at 2:00 in the morning," he says. His family was also all ok. Their house is still standing but they will not go in. "It had only been a week they were staying in the house, now they are all out again. 

Uprety says that he was told this 7.3 earthquake came shortly after one with a 4.5 magnitude so most people were already outside. "They were saying that most people are still in panic, obviously because in the two hours there were more than 10 shocks and most of them were more than 4.5 Richter Scale."  

Nepal says there are about 25 Nepali students at the university and a community of about 50 in the area.

How To Help

Many in Central Illinois have asked how they can help. The Nepali student association is currently organizing opportunities for the community to help. More information will be posted here as soon as those plans are finalized. 

From their previous fundraisers they have raised enough to send emergency water, sanitation and medical supplies with a group of Nepalese University of Illinois students to conduct water and sanitation education in Kathmandu with a Nepalese NGO, the Environment & Public Health Organization (ENPHO). Alongside ENPHO the students will teach displaced communities emergency methods of water treatment, hygiene and sanitation safety to prevent the spread of disease in the earthquake aftermath. The team leaves on May 21st and will be there over the summer returning in August. They are going to do water sanitation research as well as water sanitation and cleanliness programs says Nepal.  

Uprety is one of the students traveling to Nepal. "The plan is to work with a non-profit in nepal that has been working on water sanitation projects since 1990," says Uprety.

Uprety says that in Haiti thousands lost their lives to colera after the earthquake because water sanitation was such a problem. They hope to keep displaced Nepalese living in the camps during the re-building from having the same outbreaks of disease. Uprety says his group will be takeling the issues from a number of fronts - education, keeping contaminated water contained, doing research, and more.  

Previous fundraisers included a benefit concert on Sunday, May 3rd at First Mennonite Church Urbana (on the corner of Springfield and Lincoln). The concert featured piano and violin pieces by young musicians, a song by Esteban Gast and local bluegrass/folk musicians. The concert raised about $5,000.

The Nepali Student Association also had a booth collecting funds for Earthquake relief on the Main Quad on Wednesday, April 29th and Thursday, April 30th. They report that they raised nearly $4,000 from those two days. They've also set up collection boxes in some Champaign-Urbana area restaurants and some restaurants agreed to participate in profit sharing nights.  

For More on the Nepal Earthquake and the Aftermath:

• Another Powerful Earthquake Strikes Nepal

• Nepal's Medical Worries: Crowded Hospitals, Open Wounds

• Virtual Volunteers Use Twitter And Facebook To Make Maps Of Nepal

• Nepal's Kathmandu Valley Treasures: Before And After

• To Restore Its Shattered Treasures, Nepal Has A Secret Weapon

• Big Aftershocks In Nepal Could Persist For Years

The Aftermath of the April Earthquake

“We [the Nepali students here] have talked to our families and near friends in Nepal. So all of us have at least contacted in the past 24 hours,” says Nepal. “At this point we have information mostly centered around the Kathmandu Valley. There has not been much information that is coming out from outside.” 

Nepal says that between the original earthquake and the aftershocks Nepal has endured the equivalent of 30 4.5-magnitute or higher earthquakes over the past few days, with more, smaller, aftershocks.  This has left significant damage. 

“What we have heard so far is that most of the older buildings have basically been demolished,” said Nepal. “A few of the newer ones are also uninhabitable at this point. … so they need to be completely torn down and rebuilt.” 

"There is not even a single house that has not been affected." says Santosh Koirala, another member of the Nepali Student Association. Sanitation infrastructure is also a concern, Nepal says. 

Koirala says that, like some of his family “most of the people in Kathmandu [the capital city of Nepal] are living in tents in public places right now because they are afraid that aftershocks might still come.”

His family is from another town about 80 km from the epicenter. The last he spoke to them, they too were living in a tent in the back yard.  “I think a lot of people are just not sure whether they can go back to their houses or not so there has to be a concerted effort in inspecting those houses and making sure they are safe for people to go back and live,” says Koirala. “Some people are just going back because it is just horrible outside there is too much crowd. There is not enough space, out on the ground to actually even set up a tent.”    

“[Nepal] is one of the poorest countries in the world so we don’t have a lot of resources.” says Koirala. “There has been an overwhelming outpouring of support, and I would like to thank all of them but I think we still need a lot more support because [many of the areas that haven’t been reached yet are probably the hardest hit].”

Further, Koirala pointed out that Nepal is mostly known for its tourism. On top of the immense loss of life and the destruction of so many homes and businesses, many of Nepal’s historic and religious structures were demolished or badly damaged by the earthquake and aftershocks. "In Kathmandu Valley the old palaces, the world heritage sites, have been damaged," says Nepal. However, he says, outside of Kathmandu Valley the damage has been worse. "The famous Gorkha palace ... and [a] palace which was used for the unification of Nepal. Those palaces have been destroyed completely." 

"We have multiple UNESCO heritage sites in Kathmandu itself and those have crumbled down," added Koirala. "So we will need a lot of support in [restoring] those, but I think that will come later on. Right now we need immediate support for the victims."