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A First-Person Account of the Tragic Earthquake in Nepal

(MSNBC) Rabbi Chezky Lifshitz - The Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish center in Kathmandu, Nepal, has become a pseudo-embassy for Jewish visitors and Israeli travelers. On Saturday morning the ground began trembling beneath our feet. Running outside, I witnessed absolute destruction. Buildings crumbled in front of my eyes. My first reaction was to worry about the trekkers we knew, who may be trapped on remote mountain trails. We immediately got to work, gathering the names of the missing. Then the calls began coming in from abroad: "Please help locate my son, my daughter." Since last year's ferocious blizzard, we began stocking satellite phones that we give to backpackers. It was much easier to locate trekkers this time as a result of these phones. Soon after the initial quake, volunteers began to treat a number of injured at the Chabad center. Many of the travelers in Nepal come from Israel after their military service and we organized volunteers with military medic training. We dispatched 20 Israeli volunteers on motorcycles, who can get to the very distant places. All throughout the day, hundreds of trekkers return to Kathmandu, coming from the mountains and villages. They arrive, weak, tired and hungry. We were constantly bringing huge pots of hot soup out of the kitchen, and we started spreading out sleeping bags and blankets everywhere, arranging places for hundreds to sleep. Dozens of Israelis who came to Nepal to rest or to trek the Himalayas are now out in the field, volunteering and helping the local population. They have joined our team and are now feeding thousands of people. The writer is director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Nepal.
2015-05-04 00:00:00
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