Earthquake in Nepal

Sad indeed. And unimaginable to us with our comfortable lives.

Another good reason not to cut our aid budget. There will be more problems to come with thousands homeless and the danger of disease spreading through lack of proper sanitation. We must help.

Desperately sad, my heart breaks for the struggles the survivors will face for many months to come. Yes, Mishap we must do everything we can to help them.

OK - I'm ready. bags are packed - passport ready! Shovel in hand, Bible clutched in the other. Or would it be more useful if I had a pen in hand and a cheque book? I know I'm being facetious but in reality what can we do apart from send money to somewhere? My grandson needs new shoes - my dil's birthday is coming up shortly and my sister is turning 70 next week and expecting a pressie worthy of the great number! My finances are limited but I can still dig!!!! My heart isn't broken - my sympathy is with them - that's all I can give - and my prayers for what they are worth.........

DH, who went to Kathmandu and Everest Base Camp for his 50th birthday, says that the crowded ramshackle conditions would have made everything far worse.
There is a large Ghurka community here in Colchester and they are such lovely people. My heart goes out to them - nature can be cruel.

It seems quite sad to me that this dreadful earthquake only generates 6 posts while a baking programme generates 21! Can't see that baking is important when compared to an earthquake, but perhaps I'm mistaken!!

No, cookery is definitely insignificant in comparison, nigglynellie but apart from agreeing that it is a tragedy beyond words. I don't think there is much to say.
There is no debate to be had, no quips to be made as on other threads.

RIP all those who died whatever their creed or colour.

all we can meaningfully do if we can afford it is send a donation

It is good to see that we are sending significant aid out.

It is shocking that helicopters are being used to evacuate climbers from base camp on Everest , who incidentally are extremely rich foreigners, to boost their egos, only 2 passengers per helicopter.

When lots of villages might have no survivors, and it might take days for rescue teams to investigate the fatalities, why rescue the rich.
Same happened last year when Sherpas were swept to their death and as far as I am aware no compensation has yet been paid to the families.

From the looks of it Base Camp is squalid.

Everest is a 'holy' mountain to the Bhuddists, and should be respected as such.

There is another 'holy' mountain in Tibet, Kailash, revered by both Bhuddists and Hindus, has never been climbed.

Devotees do a prostration Parikrama round the base.

My DSiL's brother and his lovely Nepalese wife live in Kathmandu and we were all very worried about them but his Mum has now had word that they are both OK. Not sure about their home or her family. It really brings it home when you know someone involved.

Thinking of the aid workers who have gone out to Nepal to share their expertise, taking with them supplies and search and rescue dogs, I remember a now deceased friend, a well qualified nursing sister, who was a Red Cross disaster worker with some awful tales to tell. Now, if I give a donation, I give it in her memory and in gratitude to people like her who dedicate their lives to such important humanitarian work.

My hard hat is in place and I am crouched behind the sofa but I would remove all foreign aid because a lot goes to corrupt officials. What I would do is each time that there is a disaster like this, a sizeable amount of money would be given to the relevant charities and little would be wasted. That would help with the immediate problem and afterwards I would give money to charities which would help them rebuild their lives and not a penny would go near the officials.

Charlley
I agree with you.

Charleygirl you hit the nail on the head , if only it could be managed that way , but I fear not.

Its unimaginable how much suffering is being endured by these very stoic and lovely people. Desperately sad and as others say many months of suffering ahead.

Oh Charley if only it were that simple! One issue is that the impact of natural disasters is often much worse in a region where the infrastructure is poor. Many international charities do amazing ongoing infrastructure works which in the long run either mitigate the effects of or ideally even prevent some natural disasters. What is really helpful for charities is for them to have regular contributions through standing orders that they can rely on and then extra top ups for specific disasters. It really isn't enough just to wait for the disaster. As for foreign aid, I am informed frequently of all the corruption and I would expect there to be some but my understanding is that much foreign is in fact channeled through reputable charities.

I agree with you Charliegirl. My cousin, until his untimely death from cancer, set up/ran a charity on an Island off southern India. I always contributed firstly directly through my cousin, but now through his successor so I know that this way any contribution will go straight to where it is needed and not end up in some despots pocket. This is the trouble with aid, you do wonder how much of what you give actually gets to the desperate people who need it so badly.

And part of that aid goes out as concrete items: tents, tracker dogs, body bags, food and whatever else is needed.

Bob Geldof's LiveAid put me off donating to charities other than MSF - most of the money he raised went into corrupt government officials' pockets, as directly witnessed by my relatives working as volunteers in the refugee camps - equipment and food didn't get beyond the airports and disappeared into government warehouses in Biafra etc.

Sending concrete items to some countries is no guarantee, and even if international charities are the conduit, in the more corrupt countries this isn't guaranteed either.

I've often wondered just how much financial foreign aid ever benefits the intended recipients

This is so depressing.......

I think it's really important to understand how much aid goes directly to charities working on the ground and is effectively managed and how much can be misappropriated. With the present situation, the government has already given £5m of which £3m is going to charities and partners on the ground and £2m to the Red Cross. This is only to be applauded and is one thing that I commend DC for, he has stood up to his extreme right wing, on the issue of overseas aid. The govt is also sending humanitarian teams. Whilst we should do all we can to make sure overseas aid is not misused, the emphasis on that by papers like the DM is a distraction from the reality that most aid is properly applied and does not consist of used fivers in brown envelopes being passed over to shady officials. The size of the tragedy is unfolding as we post - all we can do is pick up the phone and make a donation, as much as we can afford.

Like ShelterBox, for example! I do agree that circumventing many governments is a good idea. In Rotary International, we deal directly with other Rotary clubs and districts, and everything is rigorously accounted, so we know our contributions are going to the right places.

If we wait for a perfect system before we or the govt donate, we'll wait for ever. And the only people who will suffer are the poor and dispossessed

Loopyloo I hope your post doesn't put people off donating - the Biafran war (Nigeria, West Africa) was in the late 60s whereas Band Aid was to raise money for famine in Ethiopa (East Africa).