[FairfieldLife] Fwd: Nepal earthquake report from TM Center in Kathmandu

[William Leed wle...@aol.com [FairfieldLife]]

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From: William Leed <wle...@gmail.com>
To: wleed3 <wle...@aol.com>
Sent: Sun, May 3, 2015 9:18 pm
Subject: Fwd: Nepal earthquake report from TM Center in Kathmandu


 
  
  
---------- Forwarded message ----------   
From:    Steve    <st...@atma.safire.com>   
Date: Sun, May 3, 2015 at 6:10 AM   
Subject: Nepal earthquake report from TM Center in Kathmandu   
To: Stephen Van Damme <   st...@atma.safire.com>   
   
   
   
    
     TM Center in Kathmandu - Nepal Earthquake Report    
    
     
    
     Namaste,    
    
 
    
     I am writing a sort of general report for friends and for supporters of 
the Nepal Projects. This is going to a number of people and has nothing 
confidential in it, so anyone may freely share it with others.     
    
 
    
     There are so many enquiries about the situation here and even offers of 
help for relief work as we start to get our legs back from under us, since the 
earthquake.    
    
 
    
     It is difficult for me to reply to everyone one at a time so please bear 
with the situation and not mind the generalities of this report.    
    
 
    
     April 25th, just before noon, Nepal was struck by a magnitude 7.9 
earthquake. The epicenter was approximately 50 miles from Kathmandu and about 
30 miles from Pokhara.. roughly the center of the country….     
    
 
    
     As anyone following the news knows there has been a lot of damage in the 
Kathmandu Valley and massive destruction in the rural districts surrounding the 
Kathmandu Valley.     
    
 
    
     At the latest count, more than 6,600 people were killed and property 
damage is at least 130,000 homes completely destroyed and maybe up to 600,000 
damaged to some degree.    
    
 
    
     Many, many people are homeless and are surviving outdoors as best they 
can, as relief efforts to provide them with the basics of survival arrive. In 
the village areas the devastation is such that whole villages were flattened 
and in many place 70-90% of all buildings collapsed.     
    
 
    
     The number of people affected by this calamity is estimated to be about 8 
million people or roughly 25% of the population of Nepal.     
    
 
    
     Right now about 650,000 people have left the Kathmandu Valley to return to 
their home villages to help their families or start relief work and salvaging 
what they can of their village homes.    
    
 
    
     Kathmandu is starting to come back to life, but today (Saturday the 2nd) 
not 10% of the shops were open and traffic was almost negligible. The city has 
a largely deserted feeling and the people are doing OK, most Nepalis are 
cheerful by nature and stoic by disposition so they are handling things 
amazingly well.    
    
 
    
     The old parts of the city have been badly damaged  and we have lost many 
wonderful, ancient Temples and national monuments. The Holy Temple of 
Pashupatinath was hardly damaged although many surrounding buildings were.    
    
 
    
     Bhakatpur suffered a lot and I read that about 25 % of the houses came 
down, along with many temples, including the Natyapol temple, which is the 
biggest and most majestic of them all.     
    
 
    
     In Kathmandu amongst other collapsed structures was the KASTHMANDAP… 
dating from the 12th century, Kathmandu supposedly took its name from this 
ancient mandap in the Durbar Square.    
    
 
    
     In contrast to all of this... much of the city shows little to no damage.. 
It seems to depend on the quality and age of the building construction. However 
many of the new apartment buildings have damage and it is too early to know if 
it is just cosmetic or structural and if they will have to come down.    
    
 
    
     The economic loss is in the billions of dollars and the tourist industry 
will take  huge hit and time to recover.     
    
 
    
     Now that all sound rather harsh and certainly it is, but here is another 
angle and this is the underlying reality…    
    
 
    
     The geologists and seismologists have been predicting a major earthquake 
could come at any time.. and in fact is considered long over due. The last 
major quake to hit Kathamndu was in 1934 and was proportionately even more 
devastating, considering the population of the Valley was less than 10% of what 
it is now.    
    
 
    
     The predictions of the seismologists were very dire, with estimated 
fatalities in the 100s of thousands… Now here is the thing,.. the quake hit at 
noon on aSaturday, the day off in Nepal.     
    
 
    
     The timing was such that schools were closed and many places of business 
and all government offices were closed. In the rural areas most families were 
out in the fields planting the spring crops or preparing their fields.     
    
 
    
     If the quake had struck at night or the morning hours the death toll would 
have in fact been in the hundreds of thousands. These village homes are largely 
made of mud and stone with no mortar and they simply crumbled in a heartbeat.   
  
    
 
    
     There is no way to get around it… the Himalayas is one of the most 
seismically active areas of the world.. In fact this earthquake moved Kathmandu 
about 10 feet south and raised the Valley up about 3 feet… all in one go.. 
(Mount Everest sank by about an inch…)    
    
 
    
     So, when you consider the Laws Of Nature, it is in fact almost a miracle 
that the damage occurred in a relatively narrow window of the day and day of 
the week that could mitigate such a potential calamity. People here are very 
much aware of this and deeply grateful that Nature’s timing was as kind as it 
was..    
    
 
    
     This is not to belie the extent of the suffering and destruction.. It IS 
MASSIVE, but it could have been so very much worse.     
    
 
    
     Now that is interesting from our perspective in that these days in Nepal 
there are very many Maharishi Yagyas going on… None of the Maharishi Pandits 
were harmed although many lost family village homes.. They have been working 
for the last 6 years to create coherence for Nepal and the world….    
    
 
    
     During this time, we have seen a marked increase in coherence in the 
political field. The Maoist party lost their destructive edge, were sidelined 
by the political process and have now faded largely into irrelevancy. The 
political parties have a long way to go, no doubt, but the situation has 
improved like the day from the night.    
    
 
    
     In many areas of society we have seen all the predicted signs of 
increasing coherence and especially since we have had the first TM SIdhi 
Courses in Nepal.     
    
 
    
     I am writing these points because it is important to have a perspective 
during times of natural calamity… they can seem so arbitrary and the suffering 
can seem so vast. In truth, yes we are suffering now in Nepal… but it is a 
fraction of what was predicted and considering everything we are very grateful. 
   
    
 
    
     Another area of gratitude that I must acknowledge is the response from the 
International Community. Relief aid is flooding into the country. Even I 
received 95 concerned emails from friends and Foundation supporters, the very 
morning after the earthquake…     
    
 
    
     So, I am confident that Nepal will rebuild… it is going to be an on going 
effort for some time, but the Nepalis are a self reliant people. getting 
through the next months will be hard, no doubt, but they will do it. I have 
told friends that ‘if’ I have to face such a situation as this, in my life, 
then there are no better people to go through it will than our Nepali friends. 
I love these people and for me this is home.    
    
 
    
     I want to thank all the friends and supporters for your kind attention and 
the sincerity of your hearts.. It has been a great honor for me to have helped 
host many guests these last years and watch the marvel on your faces as Nepal 
unfolded HER magic for you.    
    
 
    
     If anyone wants to participate in the relief efforts or offer support in 
any way, it is welcome. But, neither Atmaram-Dai nor I are soliciting any 
donations from anyone or anywhere. If you contact us individually we can steer 
you to legitimate Foundations that can accept donations and give you a tax 
exemption.    
    
 
    
     Our work is to create coherence and support the Cultural Integrity of 
Nepal and it is the most heart felt work that I have ever done in my life. I 
consider it to be the greatest gift that I have ever received and sharing it 
with others has been just a huge and wonderful part of my life. Thanks.    
    
 
    
     Jai Guru Dev     
    
 
    
     and all the best to all of you.    
    
 
    
     Ramprasad    
    
 
    
============================================    
    
Nepal earthquake in 75 photos: 
    
All about the disaster that killed 6,100, destroyed 6 lakh houses|
    
     
      
May 01, 2015
     
    
    
     
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/nepal-earthquake-all-about-the-devast 
ating-disaster-that-killed-thousands-affected-millions/article1-1342182.aspx