receive our newsletters
join Friends of FPMT
Looking down at Kopan Nunnery after the earthquake, Nepal. Photo by Ven. Sangpo Sherpa.
27 April 2015, 10 p.m. (Kathmandu time)
From Ven.Roger Kunsang:
All at Kopan Monastery are spending the third night sleeping outside. Most people in the area are doing the same. People are very scared to sleep inside the houses as many homes are poorly constricted and damaged.
Today Rinpoche heard that half of the houses in Thame, which is Rinpoche’s birthplace in the Solu Khumbu region of Nepal, have been completely destroyed. Rinpoche immediately offered to sponsor tents and food to help the people in Thame.
I have asked FPMT International Office to set up a Nepal Earthquake Support Fund. This fund will begin the task of supporting Kopan Monastery and Nunnery and other affected FPMT centers in the area with any initial emergency needs, and then later on, will offer ongoing support for rebuilding. We will also use these funds to help others, as in the example of Thame.
This evening Rinpoche did prayers for all those who have died or are injured with all the Sangha of Kopan. Rinpoche gave the motivation for Most Secret Hayagriva initiation and is planning to give the initiation tomorrow.
Thank you all for your support of prayers and offering support to the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund.
27 April 2015, 8 p.m. (Kathmandu time)
From Kopan Monastery staff:
Nepal chaos by nature (Report from day one)
It’s the biggest tragedy from a powerful earthquake to happen in Nepal in 82 years. It was at 11:54 a.m., just after the lunch here at Kopan Monastery. Afterwards, we learned that it measured 7.9 magnitude, which is considered as very strong. It is officially report that more than two thousands people died within 3-4 hours from the initial quake. Fortunately, it hit during the daytime, otherwise the number of human casualties may be doubled.
Image from Kopan Monastery School Facebook page, Nepal, April 27 2015
At first there’s nothing much to do except stay away from the any building. All the monks moved back to Ri-gyab. Rinpoche started to pray along with monks, while we were looking around trying to find any casualties. We found that Chenrezig gompa and old guest room got pretty bad damages. All the staff members are busy sorting out problems. Tents were prepared for Rinpoche, monks and all the guests.
As soon as we came to know about the many tragedies that had happened in the city, we setup an Emergency Relief Team. The first thing that came into our minds to do was to donate blood. We went off to the Red Cross blood bank of Nepal to check. On the way, we witnessed on the roads and heard from the radio that many people were dead.
At night, all the people across the city are camped either in the road or open places. There is no light. All the medium of communication are jammed. You can feel the fear from people’s faces. Hospitals are full of corpses. Helicopters are flying all over the city. The government announced to stay away from any tall buildings or the like. It was declared five days off for all the schools across the country. It’s so creepy to see the affected area. Many buildings got cracked. Some might go down if it shakes again. People across the country are scared and tense. The government announced relief teams are on the way and international teams are arriving.
As we arrived at the Red Cross center. They were so happy to receive our help. At once, they asked us to bring people to donate. We came back to Kopan and made a list of donors. There were more than 40 people and we sent 10 of them as the first group. As first group reached the Red Cross, they told us to stay as standby. So, the first group went to Bír-Hospital and donate blood and whatever we had — medicine, bandages and gloves. The rest of the group stayed back as a backup. The mild shaking kept coming and one more strong shock came at 1:00 p.m. with rain and thunder.
Report from day two
The second day [after the earthquake] started with mild shaking around 8:00 a.m. After lunch we had an emergency meeting as we had come to know that many people were having a hard-time. We, along with our friends from overseas, decided to give any help to needed areas. A Search Team was setup and went in all directions to find out what and where we are needed.
By tomorrow we could be very busy helping. We thank all helping hands from our friends all over the world. Will update…
Additional update from Kopan:
The “Discover Buddhism” course scheduled to begin on May 3 at Kopan has been CANCELLED.
Other updates on courses will be shared as they become available.
To read all of the latest updates and news from FPMT.org on the Nepal earthquake, visit our “Updates from Nepal after the Earthquake” page:
https://fpmt.org/nepal-earthquake/
To learn more and offer support to the Nepal Earthquake Support Fund visit:
https://fpmt.org/support/socialservices/
For “Prayers and Practice for Earthquake in Nepal,” see:
https://fpmt.org/edu-news/prayers-and-practices-for-earthquake-in-nepal/
For background on FPMT’s activities in Nepal over the years, see “Nepal: ‘The Most Holy Place in the World'” from Mandala January-March 2013:
https://fpmt.org/mandala/archives/mandala-for-2013/january/nepal-the-most-holy-place-in-the-world/