Just as Nepal was beginning to function again, it’s now back to square one.

This second earthquake was almost as severe as the first: the first was of 7.8 magnitude, this one May 12 was 7.3. Much like the first, the shaking and quaking was felt strongly not only throughout Nepal, but also in Bihar and Sikkim of India, and in Chinese occupied Tibet.

Massive hills fell down, trees and all, sounding like rolling thunder, dust flying up like thick plumes of smoke.

Three million Nepalis are now without homes and 2.8 million are right now trying to sleep outside in the cold rain, more than 1.7 million of them children. (Nepal is about 9 1/2 hours ahead of Nova Scotia, Canada.) And it has been raining for 3 days. More than a thousand people have been injured in newly collapsed buildings and landslides. And once again the aftershocks have been as big as 6.3!

There is now further damage to roads, and sniffer dogs are once again at work, even at night, trying to save lives from landslides and the rubble of buildings.

There is now only one open road to Kathmandu, so remaining search and rescue is challenging at best. The hospitals and medical centers are all overflowing. The need for clean drinking water, shelter, and sanitation has intensified.

The danger of disease is very real.

Before this quake the death toll had risen to 8046 with more than 17,800 injured. These statistics are getting hard to visualize, even with the many recent videos. The scope of devastation is gigantic. Nepal was already one of the poorest counties in the world with little ability to fund the needed aid and reconstruction.

It seems certain now that this year’s harvest is lost, as the onset of the monsoons is nearing.

The world needs to step up even more and alleviate this great suffering. Aid workers who were contemplating leaving are staying. Canada’s DART, the Red Cross, all who were still there are staying. However you can help, through donations and prayers or meditation, calming yourself and extending that pacifying energy, however you can help goes a very long way in Nepal.

I include here what are know as the Four Immeasurables, the Buddhist way to engender true compassion:

“May all sentient beings enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.

May they be free from suffering and the root of suffering.

May they not be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering.

May they dwell in the great equanimity free from passion, aggression, and prejudice.”

Relephant: 

Urgent: Here’s How We Can Help Nepal Right Now.

Author: Linda Lewis 

Editor: Renée Picard

Photo: DFID – UK Department for International Development
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