Nepal’s disastrous temblor; our own preparedness

On 25 April, the day the massive earthquake struck Nepal, Shreya Hegde, the sales executive at PrintWeek India, described the feeling as surreal. “The earth was literally shaking, buildings swaying,” she said. “I was actually slightly dizzy because I had never experienced anything like this. It was the most frightening experience of my life.”

01 May 2015 | By PrintWeek India

Hegde had reached Kathmandu (Themel) on 24 April, a day before the destruction took place, when the market seemed so lively and bustling with activity. “When the 7.8 Richter scale magnitude shook Nepal, we ran out of our hotel room. I saw panic on the streets, people running out of their homes and hotels, with their kids and pets in the shelter of a few open streets.”
 
Hegde said, we are not used to such calamities, except the torrential rains in Mumbai. “But my mind went back to the Tsunami of 2004 and the earthquakes in Bhuj and Latur, which I had read about. I could feel the helplessness of people caught in such calamities.”
 
Hegde returned on 30 April, three days after her scheduled arrival, safe, but not before seeing the panic and chaos all around her. “I lived on a single meal a day, bearing the brunt of the tremors which occurred in the next three days.”
 
Back home, there were concerns for the many Indian as well as the printer friends in Nepal. “Many look to India for their equipment requirements,” said Viswanathan Ramani, who during his Kodak days, helped install Nepal’s first digital production colour press, the Nexpress 2500 at Nex-Gen Digital. “I tried to contact friends at Nex-Gen, but could not get through,” he said.
 
Dev Nair, president of All India Federation of Master Printers, reached out to the president of Nepal Printers Association in Kathmandu, expressing deep shock and sorrow at the turn of events. “We are deeply concerned and anxious to know about the well-being of our printer friends, their families and their machinery/equipment in Nepal after this major catastrophe,” he said in his letter. “Our hearts go out to all those who are affected and we extend our heartfelt and sincere condolences to the bereaved families of the people who lost their lives.”
 
Among the many humanitarian causes to the devastated nation, Mumbai’s Jak Printers in a collection drive, gathered Rs 38,960. “Our team managed to get emergency medicine supplies at cost from a chemist in Byculla and personally handed them over to the volunteers associated with the medical team flying to Nepal on 30 April,” said Vincent Vaz of Jak.
 
For a country’s citizen and foreign visitors, the earthquake, whose death toll is expected to cross 10,000, it’s a frightening reminder of the vulnerability to natural disaster.
 
There are reports of the Northern parts of India sitting on the circles and is seismically unstable.
 
How prepared are we for such temblors and other natural disasters?