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anyone remember [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/stw-nepal-red-cross-appeal ]this[/url] thread. I coughed up 3 months ago (as did many of us) but I'm now heading to the Unicef website again. Why are we focused on the rich western climbers when the locals are the ones who have to live with the aftermath? I love the mountains but mountaineers/westerners really can be a bunch of selfish ****ers...
I suppose they were the ones who had suitably dramatic video content for the telly.
I got back from Nepal two weeks ago. Someplaces are doing ok but I was up in some village where every non singel story building was distroyed. They had one jack ahmmer to dimantal all of the building. They were working 12 hour days moving rubble by hand, seperating out the rebar for reuse. Getting materials to site must have been difficult as teh road was 4x4 only. Tough for the people.
I will add nothing form a tourist point of view was off so go visit and inject some moeny into the economy!
Were you working there or visiting? It really is a lovely place to travel
Just visisting. I we only went as my partner was due to do some volenteer work (teaching, teachers) so book a holiday before she started. Then the earth quake hit and they cancled her placment. Shame really as we both thought that from what we saw it would have been fine.
It is an amazing place and I would like to go back again for a longer trip as I only had 9 days. Time and money!
RE: Volentering. I think if you have skill to offer, such as heath care, may be engineering (they need some electrical engineers and electricians for sure!), good NGO connections e.t.c it is worth while going but some people were out there to act as labourers. Complete waste of time and money as the country has plenty of unskilled and low skill labour, all of whom are familure with the local materials, and a a lot fitter than you! The money would be better spent buying materials or going toward wadges to pay locals to do the work.
Where were you TheBrick?
Some folk may have gathered from my thread
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/another-quake-in-nepal
that I was there at the time. The mrs and I (1 x Doctor and 1 x Engineer) decided that despite our skills we weren't actually best suited to be providing effective [b]disaster [/b]relief. Yes there were a lot of folk out there 'doing good' but the government and reputable disaster relief organisations were not looking for more assistance.
Anyway, if you do want to help for the long term, there are many charities who work to provide with suitable sustainable, earthquake-resistant building techniques and similar.
I've asked friends and family for donations towards these guys
http://practicalaction.org/earthquake-resistant-demo-1
instead of wedding gifts.
agree. Not only are they qualified they also know how to work with local materials.The money would be better spent buying materials or going toward wadges to pay locals to do the work.
@Jon (master of small wheels?). We were mainly in and around the Khatmandu valley with a little trip to chitwan national park as we only had a short time frame to work to. Must have pretty scary being there. I'm assuming that it was a completely different situation straight after the quake to now that rebuilding is being undertaken and as you say the goverment and NGOs that know how to organise things are best at it.
Personaly I think one of the best things is for people to keep goign there on holiday and poke money into their economy and not be nervouse of heading there. I'd like to do volenteer work somewhere like Nepal but being only being a sort of engineer and a sort of hand person I'm offcially usless!
I think one of the best things is for people to keep going there on holiday and poke money into their economy and not be nervous of heading there
Absolutely!
p.s. Absolutely not a master of any wheel size....