6:00 I woke up as the sun comes out and everyone seems to be waking up. I am now starting to cook my breakfast, today there will be freeze-dried rice pudding with raspberries.
6:20 Shyam (Karma’s brother) and 2 of the orphanage children come to me so I can hand out material that we bought them, fine waterproof mattress, cushions and thick tarps that they can build tents with.
7:20 As we go up to the Home of Hope building for inspection and it is not a pretty sight. The house has plummeted to only 20% left standing, we will have to dismantle it to scratch and build it up again. Yesterday’s earthquake was devastating to our orphanage, it had already begun to crumble at the last earthquake on April 25. I had learned today that the epicenter of yesterday’s powerful quake was just 25 km from Ratankot so it is not so strange that it crumbled so much.
8:00 Shyam and I begin to gather people for help in rescuing all the Home of Hope’s building materials located in the people’s house, next to the orphanage. Lots of houses have also fallen enormously and we are afraid that if there is a new aftershock all the material could be destroyed. We carried the kitchen materials, tiles for the kitchen and bathrooms, countertops, sinks, windows, 15 pcs wooden beds, which we then dismantled and put everything under large tarp so it would withstand the rain coming soon.
10:00 More people are joining us and we are able to save all the materials from the village temple as well we then built a temporary temple.
11:00 Lunch time has come around and I am very hungry. I will be having freeze dried pasta! After this I wait for Shyam to come back. I had a look around and took some photos. Then I was able to call Sophie. I was really happy! It had worked poorly with SMS therefore not so much contact had been made. There was an aftershock just when we were talking.
14:00 At full speed again, we finished the temple tent and all the Home of Hope materials were secured. There were about 30 men who helped me and Shyam. It felt as if people in the village have had more action today. I don’t know if it’s because I came and brought some hope for the future or something else but it seems that people are more active today and it felt good!
18:30 We were finished and I felt really tired, hungry, very dirty and sweaty. I go to a waterfall nearby and wash myself and my clothes. Fortunately, I had a little detergent with me from Sweden.
19:10 It became dark as I was sitting in my tent while writing a diary. I hope Sophie and I are able to have some kind of contact so she can get today’s diary. I cooked freeze-dried rock bits stew that tasted good!
21:00 Sophie and I finally got hold of each other after many attempts. It felt great to talk! I told her about the day while she made notes. Shyam said that it was a good idea to organise a feast for villagers tomorrow so that everyone gets the chance to meet and talk with each other and go through what has happened. Sophie thought it sounded like a great idea! So we will try and organise it. Shyam has spoken about doing a whole roasted pig. It is terrible to see all the devastation, it is as if an excavator would plow right through Mariestad and then residents would try to find their things. All the villagers are trying to dig up the food they could find in the ruins of their houses. They are unable to live in their houses, they have lost all their belongings and they are very afraid of staying near their houses in case of the event of another quake. Sophie asked about the school and I said that is has been damaged as well. All the schools in Nepal are now closed for 2 months for security reasons, it is a decision that the government made so no child goes to school. Sophie and I planned what we will do for purchases when I next go to Kathmandu. We decide that we should try to buy as many sleeping mats, soap, shampoo, detergents, and medicine as possible for all the residents of the village. We talk about the importance of everyone keeping a stand on hygienic terms to try and prevent the spread of diseases. We spoke for about half an hour and then Sophie had to go and cook. I was so tired so I needed to sleep. Good night and thank you for today!