Himalayan Happenings: Our April 26 Earthquake Story

This post is "Remembering April 26, 2015--Part 1."

The best part of that day was actually waking up that morning!

Yeah!

If you missed what happened to us on April 25, you can read about that day in these three parts:

At the end of Part 3, we were trying to fall asleep on a mattress outside of and in front of the operating room. It was hard to sleep--our minds were churning and so was the ground under us!

For those who are interested, here is a page from a website that lists all the aftershocks above 4 on the Richer scale: http://www.seismonepal.gov.np/index.php?action=earthquakes&show=recent&page=4

You can see what we were dealing with and the frequency.

If you were still, you could feel the ground shaking with the tremors under 4,

and they were in between the ones listed. With those above 4 you could hear it and then

definitely feel it. It's freaky!

This still is happening. Today I was taking a nap and felt slow shaking.

As far as I have heard, there have been over 23,000 aftershocks under 4,

and about 380 above 4.

OK, back to our story.

Here is an excerpt from the end of Part 3 of my thoughts as I tried to sleep:

I wondered to myself,

"I wonder how long I'll be able to go without washing my hair," and

"Does Mitchum deodorant REALLY work for 48 hours as they claim?" :)

Here are the answers:

You can go longer than you think you can without washing your hair!

No one worried at all about how they looked and we all looked the same!

Yes, Mitchum deodorant really DOES work for 48 hours as they claim!

SMILE!

(We had brought some back from the States last year, and still had some!)

Well, I think we both finally fell asleep from sheer exhaustion about 3:00 a.m. and we woke up around 5:00-ish, when the sun came up accompanied by more aftershocks!

We thanked the Lord for waking up!

If you looked at the aftershock list above, you'll see there was a large one at 2:52 and then the next one was at 5:01, and thankfully we were able to sleep during those two hours. The next aftershocks followed at 5:21, 5:26, and 5:32! No, we couldn't sleep any longer even though we'd only had two hours of sleep!

We went to our apartment, where, in the front yard, many church members had spent the night,

and brushed our teeth! What a wonderful feeling! Then we actually took about 15 second showers, a rinse actually, changed clothes, and ran back outside. Still had our passports, etc., in my purse and toilet paper and our no-bake cookies from my friend Diann's recipe (Yes!)

and water in our backpacks.

Ramon went to check on patients with his team and I decided to go around and see what was happening. People were getting up and checking on their friends and family members. Doctors and nurses were checking on the injured. Someone had a newspaper so I joined the crowd to see

what had happened.

Someone translated some of the stories to me in English.

We were all in shock and it still didn't seem like it could be real.

I tried calling my mom and sister now and then. Sometimes I could get through for a minute

and other times I couldn't. Again, the phones were working off and on. At least I could keep them updated on how we were and ask them to tell me what they were hearing on the news! I asked Mom to call my cousin's husband who speaks Spanish and ask him to call my mother-in-law and tell her we were OK. We didn't want her to worry and have a heart attack!

I headed out to see what had happened and was happening.

You get the idea.

Four months later work is still going on to fix everything. Can't even guess when it will be finished!

Earlier this month we found out that all the stress underground was not released!

This means that there are real risks of more earthquakes.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33807791

Yikes!

All we can do is pray!

Thanks to all of you who have prayed and continue to do so!

Well, the rest of the day was basically the same as the day before--staying outside most
of the time, talking to people, hugging and praying with (at their request) whatever lady was near me when an aftershock happened. There were about 38 that day over 4 on the Richter Scale
and who knows how many under 4!

Once someone told me to go to the courtyard and take a picture of another outdoor c-section
in progress. Ramon had lead the team outside for one the day before. No one knew if the building would stay standing! I asked, "I really can go over there?" "Yes, and take pictures! Hurry!"

I ran over and took this picture, which has traveled around!

Ramon is in the green hat.

I didn't stay long, of course, and got some pictures of some of our patients, who all
gave me permission to take their pictures.

Here's a darling brother and sister, bless their hearts.