Nepalese expats in Bahrain offered help
MANAMA, April 26, 2015
The Nepalese nationals in Bahrain who had lost family members will be offered help, said the secretary general of the Nepali Club in the kindom, adding that a donation drive is already being planned.
"We have had people screaming, showing up at the Nepal Club and the embassy in Juffair horrified at what could have happened to their familes," J P Sapkota told the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.
The massive magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the densely populated Kathmandu Valley, toppling office blocks and towers in the country's capital and spreading in all directions - north towards the Himalayas and Tibet, south to the Indo-Gangetic plains, east towards the Brahmaputra delta of Bangladesh and west towards the historical city of Lahore in Pakistan.
"They have been trying to call their families after the earthquake, which has destroyed villages and ripped apart homes,” said Sapkota.
"It mostly affected the central and eastern parts of the country and many Nepalese people in Bahrain are from those areas. We suspect a huge number of Nepalese people in Bahrain have been affected by the huge number of causalities and deaths reported.
"However, we have yet to confirm the number because telephone lines are down due to the earthquake.
"Many of the houses there are built on a mountainous areas and are not very strong, which caused them to be destroyed killing the people in them," he said.
"Temples, ancient buildings and even new homes have been all but destroyed and many lives have been lost. We are very sad to hear what has happened to our people and hope that they can get the financial resources they need.
"We request all Nepalese people in Bahrain to call the Nepal Embassy and our club and we will provide them with the help they need."
Anyone wishing to contact the Nepal Embassy in Bahrain can call 17725583, 33152383 or 33994373.
The magnitude-7.8 quake that struck yesterday was the worst to hit Nepal in eight decades.
It also triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, claiming at least eight lives with an unspecified number of people missing and injured.
Previous quakes include a 6.8 magnitude quake that hit eastern Nepal in August 1988 killing 721 people, while a magnitude 8.1 quake killed 10,700 people in Nepal and eastern India in 1934. – TradeArabia News Service