KATHMANDU, Nepal — Though the Catholic Church in Nepal itself suffered few casualties and no major devastation from the powerful earthquake that rocked Nepal on April 25, Church workers struggle to extend relief to the victims in remote areas of the Himalayan nation.

“We are really worried. The way things are progressing is not satisfactory at all,” Bishop Paul Simick of Nepal told the Register May 4 on his way back to Kathmandu, after visiting the quake-devastated Gorkha district, only 80 miles northeast of Kathmandu but five hours of mountain driving from the capital city.

“I saw along the [main] road [to Gorkha] people waiting for food and relief material,” added Bishop Simick. “Many have come down from the mountains, walking miles.”

The National Emergency Operation Center on May 3 estimated the death toll from the devastating earthquake, which measured 7.9 on the Richter scale, at more than 7,000 people, including 54 foreigners trekking in the Himalayas, who perished in avalanches triggered by the quake.

However, the casualty figures are likely to mount, as thousands have gone missing, with estimates suggesting up to 25,000 people may have died.

In the worst-affected Sindhupalchowk district north of Kathmandu, where more than 2,000 dead bodies had been picked up as of press time, district officials have declared that at least 3,000 more are still unaccounted for.

On the day the earthquake struck, Bishop Simick was in Okhaldunga village in Ramechap district, 125 miles southeast of Kathmandu, for the ordination of Jesuit Deacon Tek Raj Paudel.

The bishop recounted that, while he was coming down a steep hill with his driver after the ordination, “I heard a sound like that of a helicopter.” He added, “The earth was trembling. Houses were falling like packs of cards, and stones were rolling down.”

Later, they crossed a river and drove up to Maithili, where the road had been blocked due to massive landslides. After the path was cleared for walking the next day, they trekked to a church center, from which a vehicle was arranged to drive the bishop to Kathmandu three days later.

 

Kathmandu

On April 30, this correspondent accompanied the bishop during his two-hour drive from the bishop’s house at Lalitpur district, south of the capital district, through Kathmandu to reach Banyatar parish, perched on a hilltop overlooking the city.

Moved by the devastation in the congested commercial heart of Kathmandu, Bishop Simick disembarked at several places. At Balaju, security forces were keeping hundreds of people at bay while international rescue teams, equipped with life-detection sensors, were scouring the debris seeking to rescue those trapped under collapsed high hotels and apartments five days after the quake.

A couple of hours later, rescue workers pulled out a 15-year-old youth alive from the rubble of a collapsed guesthouse. A 4-month-old baby was also rescued — after 22 hours buried in rubble.

“This is really shocking,” remarked Bishop Simick as he drew near to a four-story concrete complex that had collapsed, leaving 17 Pentecostal Christians dead and many more injured in a rented commercial complex in Swayambu.

Upon reaching Banyatar parish, after traversing a slushy pathway on foot, Bishop Simick received the sad news of the first death of a Catholic from the quake: Michele Ghale, a 9-year-old parishioner, who died when her house collapsed.

Despite the sad news, the minuscule Catholic Church in Nepal, numbering less than 10,000 in a nation of more than 28 million people, has mostly escaped the death and devastation wrecked on the Himalayan nation’s vibrant evangelical churches.

Indeed, several hundred Christians are known to have perished in church collapses across Nepal, partly due to an idiosyncrasy with the nation’s local calendar. Although Nepal’s centuries-old Hindu monarchy was overthrown by a people’s uprising in 2006, it has yet to change its weekly holiday from Saturday, so thousands of evangelical Christians were gathered inside churches for their weekly worship services when the killer earthquake rocked Nepal at noon on April 25.

As many as 29 worshippers died when the three-story El Shaddai Church collapsed in Kapan, a Kathmandu suburb. Among the 36 rescued from the debris was Pastor Lal Bahadur Lumbu, who is presently under treatment with serious neck injuries, police officer Balaji Ramajhi told the Register April 28, while keeping onlookers away from the site of the giant concrete skeleton of the structure, which was being broken down by an earthmover.

“It is really sad that many died while at prayer,” Kala Bahadur Rokaya, general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Nepal, told the Register.

However, he pointed out “it is impossible now to get the actual number of Christian casualties. Many areas are cut off and the churches scattered.”

 

Logistical Problems

Despite escaping the fury of the earthquake with hardly any major damage, except to a couple of schools, the Church’s relief workers are anguished over the difficulty in delivering assistance.

“Things are moving too slow. We are facing several obstacles,” said Father Pius Perumana, Caritas Nepal’s director.

Explaining the logistical problems, he noted, “Our only airport [in Kathmandu] is too small and is congested. Roads have been blocked by landslides. We are also facing lack of coordination from the government.”

Some aircraft carrying relief workers and materials have been forced to circle around Kathmandu for hours due to lack of parking space at the airport, while others had to land in airports in India while awaiting landing slots.

A shortage of ground transport is another problem.

“The international support has been pouring in. But we are short of vehicles and drivers,” Father Perumana explained. Hundreds of drivers from rural areas have returned to the villages flattened by the earthquake to check on their dear ones and their houses.

Despite rushing to Nepal, Catholic Relief Services’ personnel are among the relief workers whose efforts have been hampered by the bottlenecks. But progress is being made.

“The relief materials we ordered have started coming in from India and other places, and we are dispatching them to far-off places,” John Shumlansky, CRS deputy director for Southeast Asia, told the Register May 4.

Four trucks of relief, including emergency supplies, have reached Gorkha and are being distributed now, Shumlansky said.

To overcome the obstacles and speed up church relief work, a dozen Catholic charities, led by Caritas Nepal, have set up a coordination network.

“We are procuring materials from wherever we can — relief supplies from India, tents from Pakistan and Dubai and medicine from Europe,” elaborated Albert Grasse Hokamp, coordinator of Caritas Germany for East Asia, who has worked in Nepal for four years.

 

Helping Hands

After witnessing the death and devastation, even tourists who were in Nepal on vacation joined the relief effort.

In fact, three dozen Western tourists volunteered at Assumption Church in Lalitpur, where food items for families were being packed for distribution by Caritas Nepal.

While filling small packets with lentils on April 30 for distribution in remote areas, Alexander Gawlitza from Mainz, Germany, told the Register, “It is better to do something good for the suffering people than sitting in the hotel awaiting a flight back home.”

   Anto Akkara filed this

report from Nepal.