Langtang Lirung (7277m), image taken in 2006.
[Photo] John C Sill/Wikimedia Commons
With much of the news focus on Nepal's devastating earthquake of April 25 centering on Kathmandu and Everest Base Camp, other areas similarly devastated by the 7.8 magnitude quake have fallen by the wayside. Yet many rural areas closest to the quake's epicenter, 80 kilometers north of Kathmandu in Lamjung, have also seen calamitous destruction, with many fatalities, casualties and people in dire need of medical attention and basic supplies and sanitation. According to a statement from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Director (IFRC) for Asia Pacific Jagan Chapagain, "We are extremely concerned about the fate of communities in towns and villages in rural areas closer to the epicenter." Chapgain said that access roads have been damaged or blocked by landslides, with downed communications preventing the IFRC from reaching local Red Cross branches to get accurate information. "We anticipate that there will be considerable destruction and loss of life," he said.
One such affected area is the Langtang Valley north of Kathmandu (and bordering on Tibet), home of Langtang National Park and many popular trekking peaks, most of them sub-7000 meters. According to reports on Nepal Television (NTV), via Michael Holmes at CNN, the valley is "completely destroyed with roughly two thousand people killed." And according to My Republica, Chief District Officer Uddhav Prasad Bhattarai stated that the village of Langtang was engulfed by an avalanche triggered by the quake, with more than 100 people feared dead, the roadway partially blocked and 90 percent of the district's houses damaged.
Terrin Haley, the mother of American alpinist Colin Haley, has been in touch with her son, who, with his French climbing partner Aymeric Clouet and Clouet's pregnant wife and two-year-old child, is up in the far end of the Langtang Valley close to the quake's epicenter. As of April 27, she'd received word from Colin that aftershocks were still occurring, and that in the village 80-100 people had survived, with many more having perished and many survivors seriously injured; Terrin Haley also believed that a couple of medevac choppers had come and gone. Fortunately, drinking water is available from the mountain streams, and Colin Haley and the Clouets have food for four people for five days, which could be stretched to eight, while the villagers estimate they have food for eight to twelve days. Plans through Global Rescue, a private company, and the French government are said to be being hatched to evacuate Haley and the Clouets. "Colin has chosen least favored passenger status," she says, "and will remain and work with villagers until the circumstances align for him to depart."
"[The valley] is broad up at the far end, and that means they can probably keep themselves out of harm's way--aftershocks, tons of rocks, avalanches," Terrin Haely wrote in as an email to Alpinist regarding her son and the Clouets. "They still have their tents, so although I remained concerned, I believe the outcome will be positive even if not immediate or even soon."
The Nepal Army, Armed Police Force and Nepal Police have been carrying out rescues of stranded tourists and villages.
Click here for a list of relief organizations.
Sources: Terrin Haley, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, My Republica, Quartz India