Mags GarganIrish priest tells of Nepal quake terror as world rallies to its aid
A Co. Wexford priest among a group of Irish people trapped in Nepal this week after a devastating earthquake has said “we’re lucky to be alive”.
Fr Tom Dalton, a priest of the Ferns diocese, had barely arrived in the capital Kathmandu with a group of 11 other Irish people on a trekking expedition, when the 7.9 magnitude tremor struck.
Hundreds of buildings were immediately flattened and rescue workers grimly predict the death toll may top 10,000 people.
Fr Dalton told The Irish Catholic this week via a text message that the disaster was the “closest I ever want to be to a 9/11 experience” – a reference to the devastating 2011 terrorist attack in New York which toppled the twin towers of the World Trade Centre.
Collapse
He told how the group avoided harm by their presence in one of the few buildings not to collapse. “We were in one of the few temples there to survive at the time of the quake and are very lucky to be alive.
“The buildings collapsed and everywhere was covered in rubble and dust. We escaped that by quick thinking and closing the door for a few minutes before going outside,” he said. “We weren’t injured at all thankfully”.
He recounted how in the aftermath of the quake the group had celebrated an open-air Mass with locals in thanksgiving and for those who lost their lives or
were affected by the
disaster.
Fr Dalton said the Irish group are “all doing fine” and they have drinking water, food and shelter, “but all around us there is huge devastation”.
“They are still pulling bodies from the rubble in the old square,” he said, “and the aftershocks are constant.”
Flights
The group have booked flights to Istanbul, Turkey and as The Irish Catholic went to press this week were hopeful of being able to fly out if Tribhuvan airport remains open.
The single runway airport, the country’s only airport, has become the centre of a major relief effort with planes bringing supplies and emergency workers from across the globe to aid the stricken nation.
Trócaire, the Church in Ireland’s overseas development agency, has committed an initial €100,000 to an emergency response through the Caritas international network of Catholic aid agencies which is focussing on providing food, water and emergency shelter to people left homeless.
Meanwhile, Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said Ireland will provide up to €1 million in lifesaving assistance to families displaced by the earthquake.
He said the funding will provide food, shelter, water, hygiene and basic medical supplies.