Aftershocks: Camas couple from Nepal find ways to aid earthquake victims

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Dipesh and Sagun Pokharel can only describe the early morning hours of April 25 one way: “Sheer panic.”

Sagun received a text message from her sister, who lives on the East Coast, at about 2:30 a.m. A massive 7.8 earthquake had rocked Nepal, the country where the Pokharels grew up and where much of their family still lives. The quake was centered northwest of the country’s capital, Kathmandu, but the destruction was widespread.

Sagun turned on CNN and saw huge historical buildings reduced to rubble.

“Your mind races to the worst possible outcome,” Sagun said.

For the next two hours, the Camas couple tried every method they could think of to contact their family members and friends living in and near the city. Between the two of them, they have about 50 members of their extended families still in Nepal.

Cellphones weren’t working. Land lines were down. Luckily, the 4G network was functioning. Finally, using an Internet-based phone service, Sagun was able to reach her parents and brother, who live together in Kathmandu.

They were safe, and their modern home suffered minor damages, mostly cracks in the concrete. But the older homes and structures in the city were in shambles. Small rural villages were devastated. Everyone was scared.

“For us, it’s just devastating,” Sagun said. “That’s the city we grew up in. It’s turned into a tent city.”

Dipesh moved with his parents from Nepal to Oklahoma City in 1995 when he was 18. Two years later, Sagun, then 13 years old, moved to Oklahoma. They met in Oklahoma and moved to Camas five years ago when Dipesh accepted a job as a cardiologist with The Vancouver Clinic.

Since moving to the U.S., the Pokharels have returned to Nepal every year or two. Their most recent trip was in November, when they visited the country with Dr. Robert Swenson, another cardiologist at The Vancouver Clinic, and his wife, Peggy. They toured the cath lab at Dhulikhel Hospital and visited historical areas in and surrounding Kathmandu.

Many of those sites were destroyed by the earthquakes.

“It was sad to see all those old buildings wiped out,” Dipesh said.

Sagun’s father, an ophthalmologist, and her brother, an emergency room physician, returned to work after the quake. While her father’s services aren’t in demand, Sagun’s brother has seen hundreds of patients pass through the emergency room at Dhulikhel Hospital, the central hospital in Kathmandu. Most have crush injuries and broken bones.

“Currently, all of the hospitals are operating out of tents because people won’t go inside,” Sagun said.

The fear of another earthquake has physicians, other staff and patients too fearful to go inside, she said.

Many people, even those whose homes weren’t ruined, continue to live in tents. They’ll run back into their homes to use the bathrooms and then race back outside, Sagun said.

Sagun’s parents and brother stayed in a tent for a couple of days. But, as physicians, they needed to stay healthy and rested, so the family moved back inside. They sleep on the ground floor with all of their doors open, though, just so they have an unobstructed exit path should another big quake strike.

Shaken to the core

Then, on May 12, that happened. The largest aftershock to date, a 7.3, brought down more buildings and people to their knees.

“When that 7.3 came, it shook everyone to the core,” Sagun said.

The Pokharels’ immediate reaction was to catch a flight to Nepal and help. But trauma physicians are needed, not cardiologists, and they feared they would be consuming resources that could be used elsewhere. Instead, the Pokharels shifted their focus to promoting the America Nepal Medical Foundation, www.americanepalmedicalfoundation.com, a nonprofit organization made up largely of volunteers from the medical field who are Nepalese and living in North America.

Members of the organization have direct connections in Nepal and, because they’re all volunteers, spend donations on providing medical care and building health care infrastructure, a significant need in the wake of the earthquakes.

Dhulikhel Hospital has outposts in villages in rural areas across the country. Many of those facilities were destroyed, but hospital officials are working to get them functioning again before the heavy rains of monsoon season begin, which is expected by July, Sagun said.

Sagun said she fears landslides and waterborne illnesses will further devastate the Nepalese, particularly those living in the rural villages.

“I think I’ve made peace with the natural things being gone,” Sagun said. “Now, it’s time to take care of the living.”