Nepali quake survivors scrambling to survive
SINDHUPALCHOK, Nepal (Christian Examiner) - *Anu just could not make it out of her home when her village began to fall in on itself, April 25, northeast of Kathmandu and close to the epicenter of the 7.8 earthquake that hit the region last weekend.
Fortunately, the rest of her family was safe outside when the building collapsed on her.
Surviving her injuries in a hospital -- she thinks of her family trying to salvage their possessions.
Francis Horton, area director for Baptist Global Response in Central and South Asia, said in a news release that 80 percent of the buildings in Anu's village are uninhabitable due to collapse or damage.
Roughly 100 residents died, she said and three bodies remain trapped after a 6.7 aftershock registered Sunday.
"They were ... beginning to tear out the rubble, beginning to restore some of the things that were buried under the rubble and trying to get life going again," Horton said. "The more they can do, the better their attitudes and their mentality ... will be."
The residents of Anu's village are holding onto hope for now, while Horton and his team try and respond to the most urgent of needs. Meanwhile, supply trucks by-pass them for other communities.
Working with a Christian coalition of local churches to purchase rice, Horton currently is searching for 2,200 bags of rice, plus salt, sugar, oil, tea, tarps and other items for the villagers, who need food and temporary shelter.
Shops in Kathmandu have sold out of tarps, he said.
Friday, the team will move to another heavily affected area, and, by the weekend a Disaster Assessment Response Team from the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Network will land in Nepal to begin assessing needs for long-term recovery efforts.
*Name changed for protection
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