Nepalese students at Lincoln University are trying to raise money for relief efforts in their home country after a devastating earthquake there.
On Saturday, Nepal was struck with the worst earthquake the country has experienced in 80 years, with the official death toll now at more than 4,000, as reported by the Associated Press. Much of the country's infrastructure in the capital city, Kathmandu, has been destroyed; and humanitarian aid has begun, including 90 percent of the country's troops, who were mobilized for relief aid.
Meanwhile, in Missouri, two graduate students and a research assistant are starting to pull together resources to help as much as possible. Dinesh Panday and Manzeal Khanal are graduate students at Lincoln and are from areas around Kathmandu. Rosham Manandhar is a research assistant from the city.
Their friends and families are safe, but it was no easy task to discover this. After they heard the news, they began calling their families. Panday spent more than seven hours trying to find anyone who could tell him if his family was alive.
"There are 2.5 million people in Kathmandu," Panday said. "In 48 hours the Nepalese people have experienced more than 60 aftershocks."
The first earthquake registered a 7.8 magnitude on the Richter Scale. One of the more recent aftershocks was a magnitude-6.7.
"Geologists and other experts in the international scene predicted this earthquake," Manandhar said. "But the damage is probably made worse because of our country's lack of resources and lack of planning."
The highly concentrated population, lack of resources and lack of planning have added to the problems caused by the natural disaster. To worsen the situation, the infrastructure of the country is hundreds of years old.
"The buildings are centuries old," Manandhar said. "The name of Kathmandu is derived from one of the historical temples there. ... That temple is gone. Four temples went flat where I used to play when I was a child."
Since the three haven't talked to their families, they have had to rely on the news and social media to get information. The problem they are facing is that the international media is mostly focusing on the city and they are not able to get reports from more remote areas, Panday said.
These remote areas are often victims of landslides, and the earthquake is not helping that situation. Khanal said his father had seen landslides on some of the rural mountain roads near his town. The lack of media coverage from the less populated parts of the country lead all three to believe that the death toll is an underestimation.
"Right now I am worried about long-term consequences," Panday said. "Consequences in terms of health - like how is the help getting there, and what are they doing about the spread of disease?"
"There might be long-term consequences from the lack of food and shelter scarcity. Many are sleeping outside now," Manandhar said.
"Also the consequences from rebuilding after all the loss of history, as our country is poor economically," Khanal added.
The crew is working with BlueTigers fundraising for #NepalEarthquake. They plan to put up donation boxes at Foster and Founder halls on campus and at Everest Cafe & Bar on Missouri Boulevard. They also plan to host a fundraising rally from 8-10 a.m. May 2 in the downtown area. For more information, contact Panday at 462-0900.
Their collected money will be sent to the Red Cross.