Bhaktapur: from cremations to saving lives
Bhaktapur Durbar Square was known for beautiful pagodas and shikhara-style temples grouped around a 55-window palace of brick and wood.
Durbar Square, and Bhaktapur, have now been battered to dust. Almost all the houses are closed and people are now staying in open places away from buildings that might collapse.
According to SOS co-workers, there is such a demand for timber for cremations that the forestry department is trying its best for to supply more cremation firewood.
On Sunday, we reported that according to our colleagues with SOS Nepal, “There are around 17 camps in open places in the city. There's no supply of food and tents in these camps. People are just managing the situation with plastic sheets. Public traffic has been completely halted. There's a rush for food packages distributed by the Nepal Red Cross. Everybody is busy with rescue and medical treatment. The government hospitals and health centres are crowded with wounded and dead. In most of the camps the doctors from the Nepalese and Indian Army are trying their best to provide immediate treatment. But this service has not been enough to meet the need there.”
Right now in Bhaktapur, a volunteer team with local staff from SOS Children’s Villages Nepal has begun relief work in cooperation with the authorities including the Red Cross. At these relief camps, we have been supplying food, water and first aid.
SOS Children’s Villages has also set up two child friendly spaces in Bhakapur. These spaces provide places for children to be taken care of in local communities that are safe, and that offer food, clothing and health care if necessary. Child-friendly spaces enable parents to focus on tasks that will help them find stability in the aftermath of this disaster, while ensuring their children are kept safe.