Augustana Observer

Augustana Observer

Augustana Observer

Earthquake affects Augustana students

After waking up to the news that an earthquake had hit his country, first-year Avash Shrestha was relieved to hear his mother’s voice on the other end of the phone. Shrestha is from Nepal, a landlocked country in South Asia.
“My family is fine, but they are living outside due to the aftershocks of the earthquake,” Avash said. “They still don’t have access to water or electricity.”
According to the New York Times, on Saturday, April 25, the country of Nepal was hit with an earthquake holding a 7.8 magnitude. The devastation that this earthquake has caused is shown in the 4,800 death toll that continues to rise.
Palisha Ranjit was two when her family moved to the United States, but her extended family still lives in Nepal.
“My first reaction was ‘is my family back home okay?’ and ‘can we get a hold of them and how much damage has happened?’ I was honestly scared. Once I called my mom she told me that everyone is okay, they got a reach of them and so far nothing has happened to them,” Ranjit said. “But once I started reading the news or anything about Nepal in the news, how everything there is destroyed and there has been so many deaths, makes my heartache.”
Senior Ashim Shrestha woke up to the news of the earthquake. He immediately attempted to contact his parents, who live in Katmandu, the capital of Nepal.
“As soon as I heard about the powerful earthquake, I started calling my parents. After hours of unsuccessful attempts, my father finally picked up, and even though the reception was very bad, I got the news that they were fine,” Ashim said. “Later I came to find out that the phone lines were down and the power was cut for at least 40 hours. Next day, again after multiple attempts, I was finally able to talk to my parents properly. They said that, the house was fine but the earthquake was so powerful that all the kitchenware and the furniture were disorganized.”
According to CNN, the earthquake struck at 11:56 am local time, and the depth of the earthquake was 9.3 making the damage greater. Kanak Mashi, a journalist in Kathmandu, told CNN that this was the most massive earthquake to hit Nepal since 1934. That specific earthquake had a magnitude of 8.0 and killed more than 10,000 people.
Many cultural and historical monuments were destroyed. Avash Shrestha describes viewing the destruction for the first time. Nepal is a country generally known for their generosity.
“I was watching clips from the earthquake, and I didn’t know what part of Nepal they were showing,” Avash said. “I suddenly realized that they were showing somewhere right by my house. I had been there so many times, but I couldn’t recognize it.”
Augie International is working towards educating people about this natural disaster. President Savindri Jayawardana is in the process of making an educational table that will be set up in the brew. They also hope to provide a way for Augustana students to help the people in Nepal.
“Augie International is going to help all that they can to raise awareness and fundraise for this catastrophic event,” Jayawardana said.
There are multiple ways to donate to the people of Nepal. The Wesleyan Church and World Relief are both accepting donations that are going directly to Nepal.
In order to donate go to https://www.wesleyan.org/relief and https://worldrelief.org/nepal-earthquake.

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Earthquake affects Augustana students