A) Basic OVERVIEW of tragedy

Who in this world can overrule Nature? Undoubtedly, the answer is no one.  Nature is the basis for existence of life in earth, it furnishes us with everything we need but sometimes (rarely) it takes away those things which we can't even imagine losing in our nightmare. It was 11.56pm (GMT + 5.45) on 25^th April, 2015 when the massive earthquake of 7.8 Richter scale hit Nepal, followed by next shock of 6.9 Richter scale on the next day. Till today we can feel the tremor of 4- 5 Richter scale and it's unpredictable how long this will last. Nepal is no more same, till this time 7,260 death tolls have been reported and the number is increasing each day. Several historical monuments will remain only in pages of history infrastructures damaged so far will take several more years to rebuild.

B) My Journey

My Almost everything has fallen down except our hope and determination. It is said helping hands are more sacred than praying lips and how can I stay just watching this tragedy. It's time my nation needs me most so, on27^th April I decided to visit Gorkha district (one of the historical place severely affected with this earthquake) under guidance of my respected academic guardian Dr. Hom Bahadur Basnet, Chitwan District coordinator of Universal Peace Federation (UPF), Nepal. I shared a post on my facebook wall requesting friends for logistics to support the victims. Seeing my post many friends, teacher, relatives messaged me and early on the next day I could collect 4 sacks full of clothes, 4.5 packages (135 packets) of noodles, several packages of biscuits, 1 sack of beaten rice and 2 packages of drinking water. Finally I along with 13 other mates headed towards our destination on 28^th April with an ample amount of logistics (tents, food, medicine and clothes) supported from UPF, Nepal and those collected by me.

The day was rainy and on the way we got stuck in traffic jam for hours due to landslide on the way. Challenging the recurring tremors, uncertain weather and slippery road we moved ahead with firm determination. At 11pm night we reached Chanautey village of Gorkha district and slept at bus that night.

C) Days of Action

Next day (29^th April) we woke up early in the morning and searched a local tractor as other vehicles were unable to ride through such scary slippery road blocked with landslide time and again. Two more friends joined us there and one local resident, maternal uncle of one of them also headed with us. We were so happy to see many other vehicles arriving there, loaded with logistics for the victims. But the sad part was most of the volunteers and rescue team provided their service only up to the area accessible to vehicles. We had team spirit to visit each house, analyze the situation and share their grief as well as hope. Walking up all day along the hilly path which was more frightening than the track of Roller Coaster was thrilling. We confirmed to distribute the relief logistics in Saurpani VDC, Gorkha district. Saurpani VDC has nearly 1350 households with around 7000 residents. We divided ourselves into 3 groups and visited two villages of Saurpani VDC. Heartbroken to see injured people and almost every house collapsed so people were living under open sky or animal shed or a shared tent.  Almost all the water source was polluted people had no option except drinking the same. Diarrhea and gastritis were the consequences of contaminated water source and starvation respectively. They had no other clothes to change other than they were wearing. Rarely any toilets were left after quake and possibility of disease transmission is high. Families attending funeral of dead ones were wondering what to eat and how to survive whereas innocent kids had no idea where to read as their schools had all collapsed. According to need, we distributed medicine with instructions and about 100 tents we have carried. On the third day we distributed food, clothes and medicine to them and then returned back.

D) Feedback of the affected people

It was not easy to control our tears seeing the people crying while sharing their story of struggle and hardship. Some eager children and village leaders guided us the pathway. People's words "Many organizations have distributed relief materials. But in most cases only the powerful people could take the advantage as they distribute logistics from a single place which is accessible to vehicles. We are thankful and bless you genuinely for coming to our house and sharing our grief." Whether old or young every one appreciated our effort. Their blessing encouraged and energized us to be more devoted towards our mission and responsibility. That soothing smile of people to get clothes and other logistics mesmerized me. Whatever tragedy happened wasn't within our control but at this hour of grief we feel proud to bring smile in face with shattered hearts.  I can never forget how the little boys and girls said us goodbye with love.

E) Our challenges

While still drowned in the fear of recurring tremors and following landslides it wasn't easy to convince our family for letting us volunteer in the district which was epicenter for this massive earthquake. Unpredictable weather and scary (slippery and muddy) road with recurring landslide added uncertainty to journey.  Lack of transport availability to carry our logistics upto base of our targeted village (Thank god! we found a tractor to hire), walking along vertical slopes pathway (no more than 1 person could walk in parallel in that path) for 1.5 days along with logistics, sleeping in cow shed with locals, having only noodles and biscuits for 3 days, a jolting ride sitting at the carrier of tractor and tripper etc were all that came in our way. Additionally some selfish villagers tried interfering to us from moving to our destination (as they wanted to have all those logistics for themselves). But truly speaking, where there is will, there is a way. None of these challenges pulled us back, our motive our mission was such sacred and we were committed towards it, no matter how terrible the circumstances be.

F) Lastly....

All this wouldn't have been possible without support of my academic father Dr. Hom Sir, UPF Nepal. Thank you for extending your evergreen helping hands. Of course! team spirit made this successful. I am thankful to all those friends, brothers (including Dear Rahul Brother), sisters and teachers who contributed logistics seeing my post in Facebook. Also, those helpful local residents helped us make our mission more effective and understand the circumstances better. I express my gratitude to all international friends and Tunza Eco- generation team for encouraging love and kind support that has strengthened me in these fragile circumstances. I am thankful to all for showing solidarity, I am sure together we can rise up again. What we did was a part of our responsibility and our effort certainly was small compared to the massive loss that has occurred but we could feel the impact our effort had in those shattered hearts after all it's my (our) country, my (our) responsibility.

I have collage photos to adjust more. For more photos of my journey you can visit my Facebook wall. The link is

https://www.facebook.com/bindu.bhandari.5