The
Atlantic has a photo spread on the devastation in Kathmandu.
As is usually the case, the official first responders are overwhelmed by such a disaster. This is no doubt particularly true in a country such as Nepal, where government agencies are hardly adequate even in normal times. Your best and fastest hope of rescue from a collapsed building is from local people around you.
The
NYT has an article by an American living near Kathmandu.
Making our way along the town’s narrow, medieval paths, we passed building after building that had collapsed. Residents, police officers and Nepal Scouts were digging through the debris with their hands, trying to rescue those who had been buried. Others were setting up temporary shelters in any open space. Blankets and cushions were laid out in the middle of roads.
Neighbors were helping neighbors. Those with motorcycles were ferrying cheap plastic canvas for tents from shops that remained open. Many people stopped us and asked if we needed food or water. Several invited us to spend the night with them. This is why I love Nepal. People here help one another because they know the government often cannot. They reach out to one another, and they persevere. They open their shops, because what else can one do when the world is upside down?
It is good that the various international rescue and aid teams are coming. No doubt the international rescue teams will find a few people still alive under the rubble. But the hard fact is that most trapped people who survive are found within the first 48 hours after the quake. By the time the Israeli, US, German, and other foreign teams arrive, all but a very few who are still buried in rubble will be dead. The most important aid the international effort can provide is to help the rest of the population cope.
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