WoW Petopia Community

Holy shit I'm so glad you're safe!! When i saw the news I feared the worst but thankful beyond words you and your family are ok!! Someone was looking after you today stay safe! xx

Wow good to hear your safe Wain. What a frightening experience that must have been.

Well that's one person I can check off my list!. Now I just ahve one person on it :S Honestly it feels like the Christchurch ones all over again.

Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you and your family are safe. I can't even imagine what that must have been like.

Glad you and the family are safe Wain

Thanks all. Trying to get a flight home but it's been impossible to get through to anyone yet. The airport is also tiny and congested.

I finally got home

My sister back in Melbourne found me a flight out of Kathmandu, it was almost impossible to do anything from Ktm itself. It was progressively delayed for about 8 hours but finally went. The problem is that we had very big aftershocks (one just an hour before I left for the airport) which forced incoming flights to turn around and then try again later. Plus the tiny airport was also hosting a bunch of military relief planes from India and other places. It only has one runway. The airport was crammed with people all hoping their flight would arrive soon and it was scary feeling trapped inside a building if another tremor hit. Fortunately their security was lax and the gates were open to the tarmac (not sure if this is common or just because of the disaster)... there were people camped out there! At least being close to open air made me feel safer.

As the evening wore on, planes finally started arriving and departing. Cheers would go up when a commercial plane landed as people knew they were finally close to getting out. From there I got to Delhi and then found flights back to Australia.

Despite being happy to get a flight, I felt really awful saying goodbye to the staff at my little hotel (Mi Casa Hotel in Kathmandu). They were simply amazing. Beautiful, wonderful and caring people. But they don't get to just fly away like I did. They have no choice but to stay and live with the reality of what has happened. Not only the horrific loss of life and damage, but the fact that so much of Kathmandu relies on tourism and will suffer for a very long time to come. One young staff member was so happy when he received a phone call - his entire village had been flattened and his family home was destroyed, but only one person in the village had died and they were all working together to feed each other and get by. So he was relieved and happy. Really puts things in perspective.

Please pick an appeal and donate if you can. Nepal is a very poor country where not only have thousands died, but those living have to rebuild. And they rely heavily on tourism which they won't have much of for some time to come. If you want to donate, pick one like the Red Cross where their overheads are low and they can ensure most of it gets directly to those who need it most.

Thanks all for your thoughts

Welcome Home!

Oh wow so glad you got home. Yes its really sad when things like this happen to countries that are ill equipped to deal - I'm pretty sure Hati is still a tent city even years later. I can't even begin to imagine seeing and experiencing a disaster like that. Welcome home Wain