Krishna just returned from Gorkha and Rasuwa (Langtang) this morning - a 48 hours journey with a jeep (Tata Sumo) and truck laden with emergency supplies - tarps, blankets, cooking gear. Their route took them through Ramcha in Gorkha district - the foothills below Himal Chuli and Manaslue - going from east to west on their way to the Trisuli watershed and up to the small villages of Thulo Haku and Gogane, the latter almost all the way to the district HQ at Dunche, the entrance point for Lantang National Park. Dunche is fairly flat - well by Nepalese standards - and is the nearest town to the heavily damaged Lantang Valley. This would be the natural spot for refugees from that valley to congregate Below are some photos of Krishna, his wife Rita and helpers distributing goods in Rasuwa. The locals are almost exclusively Tamang, originally of Tibetan stock, but now living on the other side of the Himalayan crest for the past 300 years or so. Their dress, and the women's jewelry is quite distinctive, though like Tibetan women the Tamang women wear jewelry of silver and turquoise.
So Krishna's trip was highly successful, and he is gearing up for another one ... here are some photos with some captions.
So Krishna's trip was highly successful, and he is gearing up for another one ... here are some photos with some captions.
Krishna's wife Rita distributing what appears to be a blanket or something like it ...
Tent camp - this appears to be lower down, perhaps in Gorkha or lower down in Rasuwa, but above Trisuli Bazaar ...
The jeep loaded and ready to go - Lakeside, Pokhara ...
Langtang Valley - the trekking route just goes up the valley. It is actually a fairly rare east-west valley in the Himalaya - most are north-south. The lower part is v-shaped, the upper part glaciated u-shape. Due to its narrowness, avalanches during the earthquake and aftershocks were particularly devastating. The trek is considered to be one of the easier ones in Nepal, and one of the shortest.
Tent village for quake refugees, Langtang.
This is a hill in the Annapurna region to give you an idea of the hillside dwellings typical of all of the Himalaya foothills of Nepal - Rasuwa, Gorkha, Everest, all areas. So obviously when an earthquake hits, these are not built to withstand the shock, nor are they built on solid ground. What is equally interesting is how intricately terraced they are, with well-maintained systematic water supplies. The picture above is looking north from Dunche towards the border with Tibet.
RSS Feed
