Academy Reflects On Nepal Disaster
NEPAL - An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 shook the grounds of Nepal last Saturday at around 2:15 a.m. ET, with two aftershocks following, one of which had a magnitude of 6.6. According to NBC News, more than 5,200 people were killed. The remaining 60 were killed in the neighboring countries of India, Bangladesh and Tibet.
Nepal, a country around the size of the state of Arkansas, is located between India and Tibet. Around 27 million people reside in this country, with a government described as a federal parliamentary republic.
Even after this disastrous earthquake which was featured on numerous news channels such as CNN and NBC, some students remain unknowledgable about the small country.
“It’s hard to be away from home during this tragic time, but we’re doing anything we can possibly do to help the people who are suffering from this devastating incident.”
“I can’t speak for the entire school, since I’m only one student, but from what I’ve observed by talking to others, I don’t think a large portion of the school knows the details of the Nepalese earthquake,” lower Thomas Carlock said.
This is due to the lack of connections most Exonians have with a country such as Nepal, which is distant and far from Exeter. However, there are several students who are connected to the site of the large earthquake such as upper Tashi Bista, who currently resides in Nepal.
Fortunately, Bista’s family, who lived in a village called Lomanthang, was not affected by the earthquake, as his family, relatives and friends from his old school were not near to the origin of the earthquake. Despite this, Bista reported that his family and relatives still felt the quake, even from a village far from the site.
When Bista first heard about the quake, he was shocked and worried, but was relieved to find out that it hadn’t hit Lomanthang. Afterwards, he started a crowdfunding website with a group of his old friends to fundraise for those affected by the devastating quake.
“A group of students from my old school who attend high schools and universities around the world and I just started a crowdfunding online,” he said. “It’s hard to be away from home during this tragic time, but we’re doing anything we can possibly do to help the people who are suffering from this devastating incident.”
Bista and the students close to the site of the earthquake have already begun to help those who had their homes and families split apart in the past week. Likewise, many Exonians think that although Exeter is far from Nepal, they should at least raise awareness and some source of support in response to this disaster.
“I guess it was strange to me—that there was very little discussion on campus about an earthquake that killed over 5,000 people,” lower Carissa Chen said. “It’s easily brushed off as an issue of Mother Nature’s temperamental anger, but the underlying issue that caused the massive scale of death was not just the earthquake.”
Lower Owen Broderick shared Chen’s view. He added that although Exeter should not feel forced to raise a large campaign or fundraiser, a small awareness note would help out for the knowledge of the student body.
“I think that the school isn’t really obligated to do anything huge about it,” he said, “but I do think that it's unfortunate that there has been nothing at all around campus.”
Students were not the only members of the Exeter community who believed that something, even a small awareness campaign or gestures, should be done to support Nepal in this time of need.
English intern Claire Abisalih agreed with Chen and Broderick, saying that it would be nice for a global community such as Exeter to “to offer acknowledgement either publicly or privately” that some members of the community may be being affected by the incidents happening in Nepal.
“I hope that everyone does offer support and compassion in the ways they can,” she said. “I think small personal gestures can be just as powerful as public demonstrations of community-wide support, but there’s certainly a place for both and they are not mutually exclusive.”
These demonstrations that Abisalih described have happened before on campus for issues such as the “missing Nigerian girls” or the shootings of men such as Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin. However, Carlock noted that most of the time, worldly issues are ignored at Exeter, with the busy nature of academics, sports and clubs at Exeter.
“I think the Nepal earthquake is an issue Exeter should respond to in ways that previous issues were addressed,” he said. “I have a couple friends back in Nepal whose homes were slightly damaged, and although I was glad to hear that they were okay, it was frightening to see that people I knew were affected by something other Exonians didn’t really know about.”
The proximity that Carlock felt to the natural disaster was something most other Exonians didn’t feel or recognize. This is a common situation at the Academy, as the community is made up of a very diverse group of students and faculty coming from all different backgrounds. Other worldly issues, such as the riots in Baltimore, similarly affect some Exonians, while remaining as “just another news story” to other Exonians. Abisalih expressed her hope that the community care more about the world outside Exeter, even when those issues do not directly affect Exeter life.
“There are a lot of important issues in the news right now—from loss of life and livelihood in Nepal, to loss of life and justice in Baltimore, to misunderstanding and oppression in the trans and genderqueer communities, all making front-page headlines in the past week alone,” she said. “These, and many other issues, are all things we should care about all the time, even when it does feel like too much to bear—which it can. I hope, though, that our compassion and willingness to engage is not limited, even if some of our more physical resources, time and energy inevitably are.”