The force that broke and loved

After things got broken

And people somewhat too

Children stopped sleeping

Animals – let’s not talk about them

The city moved under the skies

Some of my post earthquake write ups

After the earthquakes I wrote both for local papers and my Dutch Trouw, as well as for Lutheran World Federation. The field visits allowed me to get to know countless earthquake survivors, some of whom became friends. I am deeply grateful to the families for inviting me into their tents and huts and sharing their stories with me. The visits also gave me an insight into the dreadful poverty that was already firmly in place in the affected districts before the quake, and now might become even further entrenched, unless we help or inspire the families do something about it.

You find some of the write ups here.

Nepal hit by ‘second earthquake’

This article was published in Trouw on December 10, 2015

Nepal is suffering from a political crisis known as “the second earthquake”. According to economists, the impact of a road blockade by opposition groups in the south of the country is already worse than that of the earthquake which struck Nepal earlier this year. Food, building materials and gasoline enter the country scantily. As a  result this year many earthquake victims will not be able to receive the support promised by government and aid agencies.

Nepal getroffen door ‘tweede aardbeving’

Dit artikel werd op 10 december in Trouw geplaatst.

Nepal lijdt onder een politieke crisis die wel ‘de tweede aardbeving’ wordt genoemd. De impact van een wegblokkade door oppositiegroepen in het zuiden van het land, is volgens economen nu al erger dan die van de aardbeving die Nepal eerder dit jaar trof. Voedsel, bouwmaterialen en benzine komen het land maar mondjesmaat in. De steun, toegezegd door overheid en hulporganisaties, zal veel slachtoffers daardoor dit jaar niet bereiken.

Diary June 8 – Disaster within and disaster without

A Pharping farmer tends her goats

It’s getting unbearably hot when I walk passed a grove with plum trees just outside Pharping. Suddenly two women run outside a nearby house. “Ayo, ayo!” they shout. Another small aftershock. I am surprised by their strong reaction. “I don’t feel like eating anymore”, says one of the women. She slumps down, resting her back against the outside wall of the house. This is the kind of reaction the gardener at the resort has warned me about.

Diary May 26 – Rumour has it…

Praying at the chariot of Machhendranath, tilting and stuck on the road just before Bungamati

Today is again one of those days. Astrologers have it that both Saturday and Tuesdays are bad hair days, to put it mildly. Believers were proven right about Saturday: a terrible thunder storm hit the Valley in the early evening. The brief rains were accompanied by winds with the speed of 78 km per hour. The airport had to be closed and hundreds of tents vanished in the air.

Diary May 18 – Predictions & Premonitions

History repeats itself in 2015

Dharahara tower collapsed in the 1934 earthquake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An earthquake apparently cannot be predicted. It’s a science that draws conclusions from past patterns. In Nepal a major quake roughly takes place every 80 years. This time it took the Indian and Tibetan tectonic plates 83 years to clash once more. But mankind has a different kind of sense. And I guess I had a premonition.

Diary May 16 – My crazy neighbours

The lovely shopkeepers

It is not even 6 am yet but Shiva, our resourceful neighbor, is busy opening his small shop. Fifteen hours a day he and his wife can be found behind the counter of the local grocery store. From here he arranges basically anything we, the neighbours, need. Baby formula, canned fish, organic vegetables? Hold on, says Shiva, come back in an hour.

Diary May 12 – Back to square one?

My constant companion

I am now officially the luckiest person on the globe. I survived shoot outs in Kashmir and Tibet, severe frost bite in The Himalayas, sexual violence in both Asia and Africa, and just added another to the three earthquakes I survived in Nepal. There is something about the knees though. During the last quake I injured my right knee, and this time it’s the left one that got hit. I guess a bit of rebalancing was needed…

Diary May 10 – Obladi, Oblada

Today is a big day. We plan to visit the worst affected district, Sindhupalchowk, to drop off tarpaulins in the village of our vet technician Shankar Sapkota. All houses in Kubinde of Chautara VDC are down and help has not reached there yet.
I am apprehensive. We will be the parachuting types, in and out in a day. But I also know it will be good for me to be close to the heart of it all. Trying to normalize life by meeting up for a drink with friends and planting flowers works well but there is a limit. I need to feel connected to what is going on out there.