One country

Solidarity in relief efforts

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It's said that every cloud has a silver lining. The horrors unleashed by recent earthquakes, starting with the 7.6-magnitude monster on April 24, represent the darkest of clouds to have ever hovered above Nepal in its 250-year-old history. Seven-and-a-half thousand people are confirmed dead; thousands more are suspected to be under debris in worst-hit districts like Sindhupalchowk, Gorkha, Dolakha and Kavrepalanchowk. Another 10,000 have been injured, some critically. The added economic burden on the country from the natural disaster, according to preliminary assessment, is around US $9 billion (Rs 900 billion). Searching for a silver lining in this doom and gloom might, at best, seem foolish and at worst, morally reprehensible. But an unmistakable silver lining is there for all to see, and it is something we can all proudly celebrate, without a shred of guilt.

Our government representatives might not like to hear it, but the state machinery has, once again, been found wanting when people needed it the most. Starting with our always out-of-sorts prime minister, the government still seems clueless about how to handle the aftermath of the deadly earthquakes—10 days since the tremors were first felt. But perhaps precisely for this reason we have also got to witness something remarkable. In the recent times the country has been bitterly divided—along the lines of class, caste, creed, region, language. This is why we have been unable to get a constitution, full eight years into the constitutional process. But at this time of national crisis, it is heartening to witness Nepalis from across the country set aside their differences and join hands to help the desperate earthquake victims. Actors, journalists, doctors, engineers, teachers, civil servants, private sector employees—people from every walk of life are busy collecting food and relief materials and personally visiting rural areas to distribute them. The Nepalis living outside the country have been as big-hearted; NRNs have already raised millions of rupees to help their grief-stricken brethren back home. That's not all.

Yes, there have been reports of sporadic skirmishes between victims and relief workers, largely due to late government response. But the hundreds of thousands of earthquake victims have, by and large, shown amazing patience and fortitude, even when they have lost everything. Rather than wait for government help, they have banded together to construct collective tents, to share what little food they have and to together search for the missing. The Madheshi people down in the Tarai plains, which were largely spared by recent earthquakes, are rustling up relief materials for their Pahade cousins. Brahmins, Chhetris, Dalits, Janajatis—they have all been united in this collective grief, their surnames and skin-color rendered irrelevant by the common natural enemy. The importance of this rare display of solidarity in these divisive times cannot be emphasized enough. It shows that our differences, however big, are not insurmountable. It is also the clearest indication yet that there are commonalities on which we can build. It's now up to our political class to harness this sense of unity—rather than once again try to play up our small differences—and use it to lay the foundation of a modern, inclusive, peaceful and prosperous Nepal. With the kind of unity that has been in display of late, anything is possible.