The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
A lesson in geography
Currently in Nepal, Rachel Hay is a Perth-based geologist and education officer for the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. She was trekking in Pokhara with her boyfriend Pete Buckley when the Nepalese earthquake struck last week. Here, she gives her per
We were sitting in a cafe in Pokhara when the flower pots next to us started wobbling uncontrollably and signs on the street started shaking. We searched for the answer on each other’s faces but we already knew.
The tremors were intensifying. We jumped to our feet and momentarily glanced around at the other people who, moments before, had been calmly drinking tea and eating cinnamon rolls or masala omelettes.
Pete voiced the reality: “It’s an earthquake. Run!” There was the sudden sound of chairs scraping the floor and the continuing low rumble of the tremors. We grabbed our bags and ran out into the street, relieved that we were on the ground floor.
We ran across the road to get away from the buildings and waited for the seemingly endless tremors to stop. It was as if we were standing on water and we felt dizzy and terrified. Bizarrely, while this was happening, a Nepali man calmly approached us to offer his services as a trekking guide, illustrating either his complete denial of what was happening, or reflecting the opportunism that is essential to make a living in one of the world’s poorest countries.
It took more than a minute for the shaking to subside. The geographer in me contemplated epicentre, magnitude, impacts and aid.
I thought of Kathmandu and our friends there and of all the small villages and ramshackle buildings that we had passed on our eight-hour bus journey to Pokhara from Kathmandu the previous day. Had the people we had seen and met along the way survived?
When would we be able to let our friends and family know that we were safe and stop them from worrying?
It was difficult to ascertain when the tremors actually stopped, as our legs kept shaking for a while longer.
A few people, including the waiters from the cafe, crossed the road and went back indoors soon after the tremors stopped but the majority remained on the lake side of the street for a while longer.
It felt quite absurd when we eventually returned to the cafe and requested our bill. Like us, the waiters were, of course, in shock and said that while there had been very small tremors for the previous two weeks, this was the biggest and longest earthquake they had ever experienced.
They were remarkably matter-of-fact about it and remained professional, even though they must have been incredibly concerned about family members and friends.
We waited for a while in the street with a group of locals who were frantically trying to get hold of their relatives and friends in other parts of Nepal and with other tourists, who were trying to access wi-fi to reassure their loved ones back home.
Mahima, a friend in Kathmandu, phoned us to ask if we were safe. We asked her to contact a mutual friend living in Honduras to ask her to post a message on Facebook on our behalf to let our friends and family know we were safe.
Unbelievably, wi-fi was still working and it was amazing to see that the earthquake already featured on the BBC News website. Twitter seemed to load more effectively than any other websites and has been invaluable for keeping in touch with the outside world and for accessing useful information about the ongoing crisis.
Now, five days after the M7.8 earthquake, we have experienced numerous aftershocks, ranging from barely perceptible to M6.7 and have been ready to run at any moment, with a bag of supplies always to hand.
The fear and uncertainty, combined with the unending flow of images and soundbites from Kathmandu, are exhausting, even though we are in a relatively safe area.
I wonder whether the media have communicated the situation across the country accurately.
The footage of the death and destruction in Kathmandu is a complete contrast to conditions here in Pokhara, where no buildings collapsed and where shops, cafes and restaurants have operated as normal (probably more through economic necessity and the need for routine than anything else)
We are incredibly fortunate that, all being well, we can board a plane to Edinburgh within the next few days.
However, what will happen to Nepal and its people when the media’s lens moves on, as it inevitably will? Nepal was already one of the poorest countries in the world, ranked 145th out of 187 countries on the United Nation’s 2013 Human Development Index. What will the international community do to help to alleviate the suffering here?
What will happen to Nepal and its people when the media’s lens moves on?
Rachel Hay is trying to get to Kathmandu in order to take a plane back to the UK tomorrow. You can follow Rachel on Twitter @geogrhay