Off to Nepal after logistics nightmare

Gift of the Givers director, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman File picture: Moeletsi Mabe

Gift of the Givers director, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman File picture: Moeletsi Mabe

Published Apr 28, 2015

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Pretoria - Putting together a mission to aid victims of Nepal’s devastating earthquake was a logistical nightmare, and one of the most complicated operations Gift of the Givers has undertaken to date.

The death toll from the earthquake soared past 3 700 on Monday.

Gift of the Givers director, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, who by late on Monday was still running around to sort out the logistics, said nothing would deter the Givers from achieving its goal to assist those who need help.

A commercial flight to Kathmandu will depart on Tuesday from OR Tambo International, carrying a team of doctors and specialists. Sooliman told the Pretoria News on Monday “this nightmare is finally sorted out”.

The team ran into difficulties – the airport in Kathmandu was at first closed to air traffic and they had to make alternative arrangements for a chartered plane to land in India. For this, they needed visas, and the Indian embassy opened on Sunday exclusively for them to issue the visas. “Now we don’t need visas any longer, as the airport is open and we will take a commercial flight, with a team of six doctors with medical and other supplies.”

This includes a special device – probably the only one in Africa, which can detect within three minutes whether anyone is alive under rubble of up to 10m deep.

Sooliman said Nepalese doctors from South Africa would be part of the team on Tuesday’s flight. This is because they have connections on the ground. They have already engaged with the Nepalese authorities to see at which hospitals South African team of doctors can work.

Sooliman said the supplies sent with the team would allow them to start operating immediately while waiting for the second plane with rescue workers due to leave for Kathmandu within a day or two.

”Many people are calling, saying they have friends or relatives there. One man called to say he had four friends lost in Nepal. Our priority now is tofind the South Africans.”

Gift of the Givers co-ordinator, Estelle van Jaarsveld, said it was impossible to say how many South Africans were stranded in Nepal. “Many families have contacted me, but it is impossible to give a number. Some people are still on the mountain, others are scattered around.”

Families trying to get their loved ones can phone Van Jaarsveld at 083 287 5988.

Thagaran Govender, the chief information officer at Mercantile Bank, was on a hiking holiday when the earthquake disaster struck.

His friend, Professor Narend Baijnath, is now trying to get him rescued from Nepal and is struggling to get help from Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco). “My friend is stuck in Nepal after the earthquake. He was 300m from base camp on Everest when the earthquake hit. He SMSed me, asking for help. He says it’s absolute chaos. He’s trying to get out of the disaster zone and needs advice on what to do and where to go,” said Baijnath on Sunday night.

He

was frustrated at the lack of assistance. “The Nepalese government doesn’t have the proper disaster management structures in place, so I’ve been trying to get info and help from Dirco, but they’ve been useless. I’ve been on the phone for hours with Dirco today (Sunday), trying to get help. But they told me they can’t do anything, because it’s a risk he took when he decided to travel aboard. I was appalled.”

Dirco spokesman Clayson Monyela denied emphatically that the response could have come from his department. – Additional reporting by Lerato Mbangeni

Pretoria News

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