Thursday 6 August 2015

NEPAL EARTHQUAKE

A home filled with kids, laughter, and joy is the best place to live in. It is not just an erection of bricks but is an assortment of years of hard-earned money, emotions, and memories. But the thought of losing this home is worse than a nightmare. Technology has provided us with much advancement to make this world a better place to live in. Even with all our technology and the inventions that make modern life easier than once it was, it just takes one big natural disaster to wipe all that away and remind us that, here on earth, we are still at the mercy of nature.

Over the past few centuries, we have seen many such calamities and devastations and we have also developed strategic steps to detect them. But the degree of havoc and loss of lives that these calamities have caused is still atrocious. What life has got in store for tomorrow is an unanswered question. What we have today is the truth of our life. Years of efforts give a family, a home to live in. And an uneventful and unwelcomed natural calamity can extirpate not only a single town but can shake a whole nation. 


A landlocked country between India and China, Nepal is known for its mountain peaks. The small country contains eight of the 10 highest peaks in the world, including Mount Everest and Kanchenjunga. This beautiful country is an amalgam of flora, fauna, Himalayas, ethnic and cultural diversity. The capital of Nepal, the city with a rich history, spanning nearly 2000 years, Kathmandu is the gateway to tourism in Nepal.

This beautiful city was buzzing with activity and beaming with tourists from all around the world, until the most devastating earthquake shook the entire country, bringing all the activity to a screaming halt. 

A powerful earthquake shook Nepal on 25th of April,2015 near its capital, Katmandu, killing more than 1,900 people, flattening sections of the city’s historic center, and trapping dozens of sightseers in a 200-foot watchtower that came crashing down into a pile of bricks. The massive earthquake has left thousands of people homeless, hungry and torn down. It was estimated that 1,931 deaths occurred in Katmandu and the surrounding valley and that more than 4,700 people have been injured. But the quake touched a vast expanse of the subcontinent.

It set off avalanches around Mount Everest, where at least 17 climbers died. The earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.8, struck shortly before noon, and residents of Katmandu ran into the streets and other open spaces as buildings fell, throwing up clouds of dust. Wide cracks opened on paved streets and in the walls of city buildings. Motorcycles tipped over and slid off the edge of a highway. Four of the area’s seven UNESCO World Heritage sites were severely damaged in the earthquake: Bhaktapur Durbar Square, a temple complex built in the shape of a conch shell; Patan Durbar Square, which dates to the third century; Basantapur Durbar Square, which was the residence of Nepal’s royal family until the 19th century; and the Boudhanath Stupa, one of the oldest Buddhist monuments in the Himalayas.

The most breathtaking architectural loss was the nine-story Dharahara Tower, which was built in 1832 on the orders of the queen. The tower had recently reopened to the public, and visitors could ascend a spiral staircase to a viewing platform around 200 feet above the city. When the earthquake struck, the one and a half feet thick walls made of brick came crashing down, killing about 60 people.



The loss of all the rich heritage of the country has left the whole world in grief. The howl of thousands of people who lost their home, their kids, family members, their wealth and everything, shook the hearts of millions of people witnessing this misfortune. Nothing can replace the lost ones. Nothing can undo what has happened to the country. Nothing can bring back the lives of those innocent people who got crushed under the rubble. 
The entire nation is grief struck.



The world has just seen the richness of a country turning into rubble. Let us all, keeping alive the spirit of humanity, extend a hand to Nepal, to help them rebuild their nation. Let us pray for all those departed souls to rest in peace.