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After three weeks working in disaster-stricken Nepal, Whangateau resident Derek Brenchley returned home struck by the extraordinary resilience of people who had lost everything, yet were among the first to help others rebuild their lives.
Brenchley, who works as deputy manager at Whangateau Holiday Park, travelled as part of a Taskforce Kiwi delegation, a humanitarian organisation that supports people in the aftermath of disasters, helping them rebuild their lives once rescue efforts are complete.
The delegation was in Nepal in response to a devastating avalanche of ice and rock in August, which triggered a series of flash floods and debris flows that destroyed settlements and critical infrastructure along a 72km stretch of the Trishuli River. According to government figures reported by the United Nations last month, the disaster claimed the lives of more than 1450 people with thousands still missing.
“You couldn’t help wondering why, instead of processing what had happened, the people were working alongside us,” Brenchley said. “In some cases, they had lost their whole family and everything they owned, and yet they still just wanted to help us.
“As we started to get to know them and heard their stories, the full extent of what they had been through started to sink in.”
The team’s priority was establishing a camp for displaced people, with tasks including setting up tents and handling the technical side of the operation such as supplying water to the camp, installing pipes and taps, building washing stations and setting up water tanks.
Brenchley said it was rewarding to see how even small improvements made life easier for the local people.
“At times like these, installing a tap to provide clean drinking water or putting in toilets so people don’t have to walk long distances to access a bathroom can make a huge difference.”
The team generally worked 10 to 12 hour days in Bidur Municipality, in Nuwakot District, alongside the Nepalese organisation Noble Compassionate Volunteers, which coordinated the work and provided instructions.
The Kiwis stayed in a rented house and employed local people to cook, clean and help with transport, allowing them to become part of the community during their deployment.
“The people were wonderful. In the area where we worked, everything along the river was damaged or destroyed, but the rest of the town was still functioning fairly normally,” he said.
“But if you Google what the place looked like before the disaster, and compare it to what was left afterwards, it’s incredible. It’s hard to comprehend.”
Brenchley has worked with Taskforce Kiwi for more than three years. He has a background in civil defence and the fire service, as an urban search and rescue technician, and worked in Christchurch after the earthquakes, but this was his first international deployment.
To support Taskforce Kiwi in Nepal, go to: https://tinyurl.com/yc3cef6bor or via bank transfer to: Account name: Taskforce Kiwi • Account number: 38-9024-0402670-00
