By Randall Higgins |Staff Writer|
Nepal will slip into economic chaos as a result of the devastating earthquake that not only destroyed buildings and killed thousands of people, but devastated Nepal’s entire tourism industry. Tourism accounts for eight percent of the country’s economy, according to APR.
IHS Global Insight estimates the cost of reconstruction at five billion dollars, and will take approximately five years.
According to The Economic Times, rebuilding the economy will require time, foreign aid and money from its overseas workers. The tourism industry has been shattered and it is unknown when it will return.
Thousands died when Nepal suffered a 7.8 earthquake at 11:56 a.m. on Saturday, April 25.
The exact number of deaths and injuries has been on a steady increase since the earthquake. The death toll figures changed from 2,000 to over 5,000; injured from 4,000 to over 8,000, and the projected dead from 5,000 to 10,000, according to an article from the Associated Press.
Some of the villages were 12 hours walking distance from the nearest source of help, according to AP.
India activated the necessary protocol to send their emergency response teams to Nepal within minutes about hearing of the disaster to assist Nepal.
Before the day was over doctors, search and rescue teams, supplies and equipment came from India and China, according to an article from National Public Radio (NPR).
According to the same article, released by NPR, the U.S. began to send supplies and emergency crews adding $9 million to the initial promise of $1 million.
Trained men flew out of California on Sunday, April 26, along with a few search dogs and arrived on Monday, April 27, ready to work.
The countries of Iran, Qatar and United Arab Emirate have joined Israel, the United Kingdom, Canada and Spain in the massive aid movement.
With every passing day fear has turned into anger as one village blockaded the road to the central warehouse, where the supplies were are being delivered. This particular village had no food or water, so they commandeered supply trucks. The last three trucks the village commandeered were military trucks containing armed soldiers, according to Jagran Post.
This led to a standoff between the villagers and the soldiers, according to Jagran Post.
In the capital of Nepal 200 people demonstrated in parliament, claiming that the government is not doing enough, and it is not doing it fast enough.
There are still villages that have not seen any relief, so the full extent of damage and casualties is not yet known.
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