The earthquakes in Nepal in 2015, also referred to in the media as the Himalayan earthquake, occurred in April and May 2015. The first major and strongest quake had a magnitude of 7.8. The epicentre was 80 kilometres northwest of the capital Kathmandu. More than 8,600 people died:(.
In Kathmandu was no power supply for a while and hardly any drinking water. But that was not enough, as we all had to learn.
Blockade
The blockade, which began on 23 September 2015, was an economic and humanitarian crisis that severely affected Nepal and its economy. The background is a dispute between Nepal and India. Nepal has accused India of imposing an undeclared blockade. India has denied the accusations and stated that the supply shortages were imposed by Madheshi protesters inside Nepal.
Nepal is a landlocked country that imports all its oil supplies from India. On a normal day, about 300 tank trucks arrive from India. Since the beginning of the crisis, this number had shrunk to a sporadic passage of 5 to 10 tankers a day, although deliveries of perishable goods such as fruit and vegetables had generally been allowed through.
This meant that people had to queue for hours to have their gas cylinders filled. Often they were chained in long rows to make sure that you got the small reduced amount. Gasoline was in short supply. Birgit saw families in stairwells with fireplaces where food was prepared. Or on built clay stoves in gardens, if you had a garden. In the video you can see students demonstrating against this injustice.
Nevertheless, the journey is also connected with beautiful moments as we can see in the video.