Earthquake wounds in Chautara

Chautara appears as if the devastating earthquake had hit it recently, not almost eleven months before. About 15,000 people are living in the city at an altitude of 1,500 meters, the administrative headquarter of Sindhupalchowk District, which was particularly hard-hit by the earthquake on 25 April last year. On the main street many ruined houses still witness to the disaster that killed more than 3,500 people in this mountain region. In many villages about 90 percent of the houses collapsed. The cleanup is progressing slowly. Too heavy are the wounds that the earthquake has ripped, not only at the buildings, but also for the city’s inhabitants. “There is still a very great problem of health,” says doctor Sabina Parajuli. “Those who were injured that time, have not fully recovered because of lots of problems, especially in their limbs. They were operated at that time and not able to do their normal activites. They were the only family members with income, but they are not working and are not getting money. And the other family members are busy with taking care of them.” In addition, infectious diseases such as vomiting or diarrhea spread quickly because the people live in crowded shelters.

Still a tent clinic

Emergency room in a tent

Sabina works in the hospital of Chautari. The large building was so badly damaged in the quake that it can not be used without extensive repairs. Therefore, Sabine and her colleagues are still working mainly in tents on the grounds of the clinic. Only a small building with an office and a treatment room was newly built after the earthquake. “Some of the tents have been destroyed by the strong winds in recent times,” says the 25-year-old.

The doctors are treating not only physical diseases but also mental. “Many suffer from post traumatic disorders, means stress after many months of the traumatic event. They are afraid of minor things, don’t sleep properly and they are not interested to have food properly”, says Sabina Parajuli, adding that some patients are highly depressed because they lost relatives, their house or the entire property. She estimates that only about 30 to 40 percent of the mentally ill visit the hospital: “In our communities psychological injuries are very stigmatized and there is very discrimination.” In addition, many are not aware that they are suffering from a desease and that this can be cured, she says.

Politics, Politics, Politics

Sabina Parachuli treats a young patient

The doctor is in no way satisfied with the government – like actually all I talked to in Sindhupalchowk. “They have to help us as early as possible. But the government is only making politics, politics, politics and is not acting where it is needed. So there is very slow help and progress. Nowadays we are not hoping anything from them. And we are just trying to do the best ourselves.”

For the doctors at the hospital of Chautara that means still working up to their personal limits. In the first weeks after the quake, Sabina was deployed nearly around the clock. “Of course we were tired. But the other people were injured and more stressed than us. Compared with these other people we were healthy. They needed our help”, said the young doctor. “I was not forced by anyone, but by my heart. I had to do something for my home village Sangachok and the villagers. It was my chance and opportunity to serve them.”

Hoping for the straight stretches

Life in tin sheds

There are still aftershocks in the region. People fear that another, perhaps even heavier earthquake than that on 25 April 2015 could occur. There is still no sign of normality in Sindhupalchowk District, says Sabina: “Of course there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. But the tunnel is not straight, it’s curved. And because of these curves we can’t see the light nowadays. If we get to the point where the tunnel is straight, we can see it. We haven’t yet reached that point. But I hope we’ll do it in very near future.”

Matthias Baumann (r.) in the hospital of Dhulikhel

He did not hesitate. When the first reports on the devastating earthquake in Nepal came in, the German doctor and climber Matthias Baumann packed his stuff. The trauma surgeon from the town of Tuebingen flew to the disaster area in order to help. For more than a week, the 43-year-old worked in a hospital in the mountain town of Dhulikhel, 25 kilometers east of the capital Kathmandu. Before he will fly home on Sunday, he wants to make another trip to the countryside to get an overview about the situation there and to help wherever he can.

Matthias, you have now been in Nepal for one and a half week. How long did you work each day?

We started in the morning at 8 a.m. with a meeting of all senior doctors and nurses. We discussed what was needed at the hospital and at the ambulance stations in the countryside. Then we got going. There were no prescribed working hours. Everyone worked as long as he was able to do so. Mostly I left the hospital at 10 or 11 p.m.

Patients waiting patiently

What was your job in the hospital?

I spent most of the time in the operating room. We were treating particularly fractures of arms and legs. From time to time I joined the team in the emergency room.

Where did the patients come from?

Dhulikhel is an hour’s drive east of Kathmandu, it is very hilly there. The city is situated at the road to Tibet. Therefore we got patients particularly from the eastern mountain regions. For them, it was the first major hospital on the way to Kathmandu.

Are these people traumatized?

Yes, definitely. But I admire them for accepting the situation without complaining. They have suffered an incredible fate: They lost their loved ones; they had a long way to come to the hospital; they have to sleep in the corridor or even outside; they have to wait perhaps for hours in front of the operating room until it’s their turn. But they deal with it patiently, without complaining about the conditions. After all, it is an organized chaos, because the patient flow is so great.

Is the situation outside the hospital chaotic too?

My impression is that the situation in the countryside, especially in the mountainous regions, is not yet under control. In the last two days, our hospital organized shuttle flights by helicopter to very remote villages in the Langtang region. I have seen terrifying pictures. These villages have just disappeared. But our help could only be selective. I think there are still villages which no one has reached since the earthquake two weeks ago.

Do they still bring in injured people from these areas, or only dead?

In the mountain villages, most bodies were burned quickly in order to prevent epidemics. They still bring injured from mountain villages, but of course not as many as at the beginning.

Living in ruins

How do the people of Nepal assess their future?

Recently, someone told me that Nepal was set back by 20 years. I did not only stay in hospital but made some trips outside the city of Dhulikhel. The damage is incredible. I think it will definitely take years to rebuild the country. On the one hand you can feel a great cohesion of the Nepalese people. On the other hand they are all traumatized. Yesterday someone told me: “We suffer!”

Are the Nepalese afraid of getting forgotten, when the earthquake disaster will disappear from the news headlines?

From time to time I hear that. Otherwise, Nepal is popular throughout the world, not only because of its beautiful mountains, but mainly because of its nice people. There is a huge number of international aid agencies working in the earthquake zone, in some places almost too many. And so many individuals have come here in order to help the earthquake victims. I do not think that the Nepalese will be forgotten.

P.S. Matthias Baumann has launched a fundraising campaign for the earthquake victims in Nepal – like he did before for the families of the avalanche victims 2014 on Everest.

North side of Everest

First of all:  Compared to the suffering in Nepal after the earthquake of last Saturday – now more than 5,000 deaths and 10,000 injuries have been counted – it seems almost insignificant what is happening on the Tibetan north side of Mount Everest. But I also give reports on the consequences of the terrible tragedy in Nepal for the climbers in the region – and there are still several hundred mountaineers in Tibet, including many Sherpas from Nepal. All will go home now. Whether they like it or not, they have to. “It’s official: Everest is closed for this season”, expedition leader Dominik Mueller, head of the German operator Amical alpin, writes from “Chinese Base Camp” on the north side of Mount Everest. Yesterday Mueller had abandoned his expedition, one day before the decisive meeting of the expedition leaders with representatives of the China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA) in Base Camp at 5,150 meters.

Road to Nepal closed

Other climbers confirm that the Chinese authorities have forbidden any further activities on the highest mountain on earth and on other Tibetan mountains too. “Dreams are just gone”, Austrian climber Alois Fuchs writes in his internet diary. “It is supposed that earthquake activity will shift towards Mount Everest (Tingri) and has not yet finished. No one is able to assess accurately the danger of falling rocks and avalanches, therefore all mountains in this area have been closed. For us, this means: Mount Everest cancelled, we have to collect our equipment, to rebook flights and to wait in BC (Base Camp) for the mates who are still in ABC (Advanced Base Camp).” Ralf Dujmovits, the most successful German high altitude climber, is in ABC too. Ralf will now pack his things, his office in Germany confirms. According to Adrian Ballinger, head of the US operator Alpenglow Expeditions, the road between Tibet and Nepal is closed. Therefore his team wants to leave the country like many others via the Tibetan capital Lhasa.

Insufficient surgical equipment

Matthias Baumann confirmed that the road link between the two countries was interrupted again. “There have been new landslides, some regions are cut off”, the German doctor and mountaineer told me by phone from Nepal. The trauma surgeon is helping in a hospital on the outskirts of Kathmandu. “We have been operating mainly fractures of arms and legs, and spinal fractures too.” There is a lack of surgical equipment such as plates, nails and screws. He is now trying to organize supplies from Germany. “We have to treat so many fractures that there would be a lack of equipment in any hospital in the world.” Matthias is sleeping in a tent. “That’s what a lot of people do here.” He counted three aftershocks on the first day of his stay. Baumann said that caring for the earthquake victims in Kathmandu in his opinion was “quite well, but there are still so many mountain regions cut off. And there are far too few helicopters.” Those helicopters which were used for rescue on Mount Everest until yesterday are therefore urgently needed. On Tuesday evening, there were reports about an avalanche in the region Langtang with at least 250 people missing.

Only after helicopters come free

Although many climbers have already started to make their way home, the season is officially not yet finished on the Nepalese side of Mount Everest – despite the terrible avalanche disaster after the earthquake. “Our Himex team will stay at Everest BC for the next few days and we will then decide if we will continue or not”, writes Russell Brice, head of the New Zealand organizer Himalayan Experience. This morning, when he was at the airport, he had a meeting with the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) and the Tourism Minister. “He gave us permission to fly loads to Camp 1, but only after the helicopters come free from rescue operations which we of course totally agree with.”