Earthquake Diaries

A remarkable thing happened in Nepal in April/May 2015. There were two major earthquakes and hundreds of aftershocks, with an official death toll of over 8000. But the biggest aftershocks may well be the changes that were already starting to manifest across the country. Suddenly hundreds of thousands of local people were mobilised, not by greed, money, power or status, but by a need to pull together and rebuild their country. Many were city dwellers, who had rarely trodden beyond the ring road and were unused to the rough conditions of the rural areas. Others deserted Kathmandu for their ancestral villages in the devastated countryside. All were motivated to help the earthquake relief efforts in any way they could, not waiting for foreign aid to arrive. Having visited Nepal for several decades in the overland and trekking adventure business, we have made many friends and witnessed many significant events, but nothing like this. For us this was a unique but shattering experience. The quakes were 7.8 and 7.3, but the magnitude of the destruction is uncountable. The text is illustrated by more than 150 colour photographs of the quake, the people, the efforts and some of this stunning country to inspire readers to visit Nepal as soon as they can! This is our short story: thirty days that shook us and millions of others.