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Abstract
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The Annual Conference of the Society of Internal Medicine of Nepal was in progress at Hotel Crowne Plaza Soaltee in Kathmandu, when an earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, 2015. It seemed as if the world was ending. The lights went out, and there was a state of panic in the room. People collapsed as they struggled to run toward the exit of the conference hall, appearing as though they were on a ship hit by a massive wave.
This massive tremor, a 7.8 on the Richter scale, the strongest since the great earthquake of 1934, destroyed a large part of central Nepal; ancient temples, palaces, and UNESCO World Heritage monuments were reduced to ruins. The quake was followed by numerous aftershocks that continued to rock the nation for more than a year. Thousands of people were buried under the rubbles of flattened homes in the capital city and surrounding hills. Millions more became homeless. Roads cracked open, sink holes big enough to engulf multistory buildings emerged, and giant rocks several feet high jutted out of the ground. Landslides caused roadblocks and avalanches created havoc, killing and injuring mountain climbers from around the globe.
On recovering from the initial shock to our cores, Nepali physicians who were present immediately jumped into action. We mobilized our organization, America Nepal Medical Foundation (ANMF), to perform surveillance and needs assessments on the ground in Nepal as well as gathering and dispatching help from the United States. The ANMF is a not-for-profit organization based in the United States with a sister chapter in Nepal consisting mainly of physicians. Its main mission is to uplift the health of the people of Nepal. As soon as the news of the earthquake broke on April 25, 2015, at around 1:00 am central time in North America, ANMF members in the United Sates started raising funds on social media. Nepalese and others who loved Nepal from around the world started giving. We quickly reached more than $1 million, even though the initial goal had just been $20,000. We set up an ANMF command center in one of the hospitals in Kathmandu and recruited more than 50 physicians who were eager to help. Many other volunteers from within and outside Nepal joined us.
The medical community in Kathmandu implemented their emergency workforce. Surgeons and nurses worked tirelessly around the clock without taking any breaks ...
Language: en |