While I thank Steve for his "feet on the ground" report, I want to comment
briefly on his rap at the end. The one at the end, in green print. You know,
the one in which he felt that he had to explain WTF the "Laws Of Nature" were
thinking when they created this earthquake and then spared some folks and not
others.
See, this is an issue that would never occur to someone who lives in the real
world, the world of reason and science. In this real world (the only one that
we know for sure exists), earthquakes happen as the result of plate tectonics,
and don't have any intelligence -- angry OR benevolent -- underlying them. The
ground just shakes, and shit happens the way shit tends to happen when the
ground shakes.
Steve seems to feel it's a "miracle" that none of the people he knows there got
hurt. Presumably that's because he and his friends were there "creating
coherence" by bouncing on their butts a lot, so the sentient "Laws Of Nature"
made sure they were OK. Equally presumably, these "Laws Of Nature" *didn't*
feel the same way about the over 6,000 Nepalis who got squished because of all
the shaking. I guess that getting squished was their fault because they didn't
bounce on their butts, too, or pay money to the "Maharishi pundits" to chant
for them. That IS what Steve is implying, although I'm sure he doesn't
recognize it.
Look, I'm sure that Steve is a nice guy, and was just trying to put a nice spin
on horrible events. But I'm just pointing out how ludicrous his spin IS. No one
was "spared" because of anything to do with TM or the TMSP, and no one was
killed because of it. Earthquakes just happen. They don't even know that TM,
the TMSP, the "Maharishi pundits," and Steve fuckin' EXIST, much less have an
opinion about whether they should survive or not.
Steve and his friends were lucky. That's all. It would be less insulting to the
over 6,000 people who *weren't* as lucky if he'd stay away from Woo Woo
interpretations of what was, after all, a random natural event.
From: "William Leed [email protected] [FairfieldLife]"
<[email protected]>
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Steve <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, May 3, 2015 at 6:10 AM
Subject: Nepal earthquake report from TM Center in Kathmandu
To: Stephen Van Damme < [email protected]>
TM Center in Kathmandu - Nepal Earthquake Report Namaste, I am
writing a sort of general report for friends and for supporters of the Nepal
Projects. This is going to a number of people and has nothing confidential in
it, so anyone may freely share it with others. There are so many enquiries
about the situation here and even offers of help for relief work as we start to
get our legs back from under us, since the earthquake. It is difficult for
me to reply to everyone one at a time so please bear with the situation and not
mind the generalities of this report. April 25th, just before noon, Nepal
was struck by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake. The epicenter was approximately 50
miles from Kathmandu and about 30 miles from Pokhara.. roughly the center of
the country…. As anyone following the news knows there has been a lot of
damage in the Kathmandu Valley and massive destruction in the rural districts
surrounding the Kathmandu Valley. At the latest count, more than 6,600
people were killed and property damage is at least 130,000 homes completely
destroyed and maybe up to 600,000 damaged to some degree. Many, many people
are homeless and are surviving outdoors as best they can, as relief efforts to
provide them with the basics of survival arrive. In the village areas the
devastation is such that whole villages were flattened and in many place 70-90%
of all buildings collapsed. The number of people affected by this calamity
is estimated to be about 8 million people or roughly 25% of the population of
Nepal. Right now about 650,000 people have left the Kathmandu Valley to
return to their home villages to help their families or start relief work and
salvaging what they can of their village homes. Kathmandu is starting to
come back to life, but today (Saturday the 2nd) not 10% of the shops were open
and traffic was almost negligible. The city has a largely deserted feeling and
the people are doing OK, most Nepalis are cheerful by nature and stoic by
disposition so they are handling things amazingly well. The old parts of
the city have been badly damaged and we have lost many wonderful, ancient
Temples and national monuments. The Holy Temple of Pashupatinath was hardly
damaged although many surrounding buildings were. Bhakatpur suffered a lot
and I read that about 25 % of the houses came down, along with many temples,
including the Natyapol temple, which is the biggest and most majestic of them
all. In Kathmandu amongst other collapsed structures was the KASTHMANDAP…
dating from the 12th century, Kathmandu supposedly took its name from this
ancient mandap in the Durbar Square. In contrast to all of this... much of
the city shows little to no damage.. It seems to depend on the quality and age
of the building construction. However many of the new apartment buildings have
damage and it is too early to know if it is just cosmetic or structural and if
they will have to come down. The economic loss is in the billions of
dollars and the tourist industry will take huge hit and time to recover.
Now that all sound rather harsh and certainly it is, but here is another angle
and this is the underlying reality… The geologists and seismologists have
been predicting a major earthquake could come at any time.. and in fact is
considered long over due. The last major quake to hit Kathamndu was in 1934 and
was proportionately even more devastating, considering the population of the
Valley was less than 10% of what it is now. The predictions of the
seismologists were very dire, with estimated fatalities in the 100s of
thousands… Now here is the thing,.. the quake hit at noon on aSaturday, the day
off in Nepal. The timing was such that schools were closed and many places
of business and all government offices were closed. In the rural areas most
families were out in the fields planting the spring crops or preparing their
fields. If the quake had struck at night or the morning hours the death
toll would have in fact been in the hundreds of thousands. These village homes
are largely made of mud and stone with no mortar and they simply crumbled in a
heartbeat. There is no way to get around it… the Himalayas is one of the
most seismically active areas of the world.. In fact this earthquake moved
Kathmandu about 10 feet south and raised the Valley up about 3 feet… all in one
go.. (Mount Everest sank by about an inch…) So, when you consider the Laws
Of Nature, it is in fact almost a miracle that the damage occurred in a
relatively narrow window of the day and day of the week that could mitigate
such a potential calamity. People here are very much aware of this and deeply
grateful that Nature’s timing was as kind as it was.. This is not to belie
the extent of the suffering and destruction.. It IS MASSIVE, but it could have
been so very much worse. Now that is interesting from our perspective in
that these days in Nepal there are very many Maharishi Yagyas going on… None of
the Maharishi Pandits were harmed although many lost family village homes..
They have been working for the last 6 years to create coherence for Nepal and
the world…. During this time, we have seen a marked increase in coherence
in the political field. The Maoist party lost their destructive edge, were
sidelined by the political process and have now faded largely into irrelevancy.
The political parties have a long way to go, no doubt, but the situation has
improved like the day from the night. In many areas of society we have seen
all the predicted signs of increasing coherence and especially since we have
had the first TM SIdhi Courses in Nepal. I am writing these points because
it is important to have a perspective during times of natural calamity… they
can seem so arbitrary and the suffering can seem so vast. In truth, yes we are
suffering now in Nepal… but it is a fraction of what was predicted and
considering everything we are very grateful. Another area of gratitude that
I must acknowledge is the response from the International Community. Relief aid
is flooding into the country. Even I received 95 concerned emails from friends
and Foundation supporters, the very morning after the earthquake… So, I am
confident that Nepal will rebuild… it is going to be an on going effort for
some time, but the Nepalis are a self reliant people. getting through the next
months will be hard, no doubt, but they will do it. I have told friends that
‘if’ I have to face such a situation as this, in my life, then there are no
better people to go through it will than our Nepali friends. I love these
people and for me this is home. I want to thank all the friends and
supporters for your kind attention and the sincerity of your hearts.. It has
been a great honor for me to have helped host many guests these last years and
watch the marvel on your faces as Nepal unfolded HER magic for you. If
anyone wants to participate in the relief efforts or offer support in any way,
it is welcome. But, neither Atmaram-Dai nor I are soliciting any donations from
anyone or anywhere. If you contact us individually we can steer you to
legitimate Foundations that can accept donations and give you a tax exemption.
Our work is to create coherence and support the Cultural Integrity of Nepal
and it is the most heart felt work that I have ever done in my life. I consider
it to be the greatest gift that I have ever received and sharing it with others
has been just a huge and wonderful part of my life. Thanks. Jai Guru Dev
and all the best to all of you. Ramprasad
============================================
Nepal earthquake in 75 photos:
All about the disaster that killed 6,100, destroyed 6 lakh houses|
- May 01, 2015
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/nepal-earthquake-all-about-the-devast
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