Nepalese Rally for Earthquake Victims
By Rachelle Anthony
Rajya Mahatara Maharja held back tears as her body shivered. Her voice choked up as she said, “My mom is really old, almost 75 years. Now she is sickened with this.” Maharja lives in the United States with her husband and young daughter. She was planning to return home to Nepal when her daughter’s school is out for the summer. “They have no food,” said Maharja. “Tents are not working because it’s raining so,” she said.
On Saturday, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake shook the region and killed over 3,000 people in Kathmandu. The historic Darahar tower was filled with people when the earthquake hit. It collapsed, utterly destroyed, and killed many of the tourists inside.
The Nepalese continue to dig their way through the rubble in search of loved ones and friends. The search for survivors, trapped underneath homes and monuments, has been challenging.
Pralay Rajehandari, a New York Nepalese Football Club member, organized a prayer and fundraiser for the victims of the Nepal earthquake on April 26 in Diversity Plaza in Jackson Heights, Queens. “When I saw first pictures on CNN I was speechless,” said Rajehandari.
Rajehandari will be receiving his master’s degree in computer science from Touro College. He is extremely concerned about his family and friends in Nepal and hopes this fundraiser will aid the people in his country. “They’re all safe, they’re all fine but the thing is half of my house is gone,” he said. “Luckily everyone was outside when this happened. But the thing is, my country is in deep deep pain so that’s why we’re doing this fundraising program today here to collect clothes, food, whatever people can donate. We’re sending it tomorrow directly to the shelters where people are.”
The rows of white folding chairs filled Diversity Plaza on 74th Street and 37th Road. Many people entered the plaza, some shaking their heads in disbelief about the devastation in Nepal. After a prayer, supporters walked up to the table, pulled out money and placed it into the fundraising buckets. Some taped the sign “Pray for Nepal” on their shirts.
“The day before yesterday I was talking to my dad, everybody was happy you know,” said Rajehandari. “Everyone’s there. My mom, my dad, my sister, my aunts, uncles. I’m really glad that all over the world countries are sending their troops back home for the relief. If you can donate anything to the Red Cross, or whichever means, please do it.”
The 7.8 earthquake caused an avalanche on Mount Everest which killed 17 people, among them three Americans: Marisa Eve Girawond, a physician’s assistant, Tom Taplin, a filmmaker, and Dan Fredinburg, a Google executive.
Sarun Shrestha, a 19-year-old student, said her mother lives in Nepal, while she lives here with her father in the Unites States. “My aunt, she was in her room mending her dress and suddenly she felt the shaking,” said Shrestha. “She said she would have had a heart attack right there if my mother was not over there. It makes me feel really bad because I’m not with my family right now. I feel really hopeless.”
Shrestha said she lost three uncles on her mother’s side because they had gone to see Dharahara, also called Bhimsen Tower, which collapsed. “It was the day of Saturday, the weather was good so they went to Dharahara to see the view of the Kathmandu Valley,” said Shrestha. “It was just opened to public 10 years ago — Bhimsen Tower, it was rebuilt. They went inside Dharahara when earthquake happened and everyone was there when it collapsed, everyone was dead.”
As the sun beamed down on Diversity Plaza, bottled water was passed out to supporters. A few family members stood at the podium and spoke to the crowd, asking them to pray for Nepal.
“A lot of our historical monuments are gone, a lot of people have lost their lives so it’s quite devastating,” said Rakesh Silwal, a member of the New York Nepalese Football Club member. “This is quite a testing time for our nation. Given we are far away, we still can do a lot of things, provide some financial funds, or clothes, or whatever we can”, he said.
Silwal’s entire family is in Nepal. He said he spoke to his family the day it happened. “I spoke to my family last night. My mother was saying that even now they are feeling the tremors. They’re all on the streets, sleeping on the ground so it’s pretty sad.”
People slept in tents outside in the cold and rain on Sunday in Nepal, as many sizable aftershocks shook the region. The United States is sending aid to Nepal and teams of rescue workers are coming from around the world to provide relief as well.
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