Tankiso Makhetha
KATHMANDU: South African humanitarian aid organisation Gift of the Givers has arrived in Nepal and will embark on its first major rescue mission tomorrow.
The team, comprising 23 search and rescue personnel and six medical experts, will operate in a remote village on the border of Nepal and China, where more than 5 000 people have died and thousands more have been affected by Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude quake. Aid is coming in from around the world, but one of the challenges is gaining entry into the capital Kathmandu.
Four sniffer dogs and their handlers, scheduled to be part of the South African rescue team, had to remain behind in Johannesburg for logistical reasons, as well as half a ton of cargo, which included search and rescue equipment and the majority of medical supplies.
These are expected to arrive tomorrow, along with another group of volunteers and journalists who will be reporting on the team’s activities. The delays hindered rescue teams’ operations when they were called to a site where a man called Kitub Timang was trapped in a six-storey building in Harishiddi. The building had collapsed on Saturday while he was asleep.
His wife Suntali said she was outside their home when it caved in and trapped him. “He awoke and tried to run out, but was trapped in the passage,” she said.
Gift of the Givers co-ordinator Dr Ahmed Bham said the rescue team had located Timang’s body, but could not retrieve it.
The honorary consul of South Africa to Nepal, Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, said: “A lot of villages have not received help because they are located in remote areas. More than 5 000 |people are feared dead, with thousands more injured and displaced. We are looking to provide them with basic necessities first.”
He highlighted water, food, medication, clothes and tents as priorities. “There are villages that have not received any form of assistance.”
While driving into Kathmandu yesterday, scores of people could be seen camping outside their homes to avoid aftershocks.