Help Rebuild a School in Nepal

October is approaching at light speed. I don't think I'm 100% ready yet. But I'm super excited, not just for the mountains, but for the other project we have planned.

Romi thought it would be good idea to help out in some way the communities affected by the two big earthquakes that hit Nepal earlier this year. We had a fund-raising drive just a week after the disasters struck, and we were able to send a modest sum, which went to the initial relief work by our friends in the field. But we could do more.

Thoughts on Gunung Kinabalu

It's turning out to be a devastating year for mountaineering. After the deadly quake in Nepal that killed thousands of people and scores of mountain climbers, Sabah was shaken by a magnitude 6 tremor, which caused massive rockfalls and landslides in Mt. Kinabalu, killing at least 19 hikers, including several children from Singapore. Hundreds of people were trapped near the summit as the trail down got swept away.

Stranded climbers, awaiting rescue (photo from Zuma Press)

Thoughts on Nepal

I was off the grid when the news of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Nepal broke.

I had the good fortune to visit Nepal three years ago and to see the Himalayas, Kathmandu and its heritage landmarks (like the Hindu city of Bhaktapur in the photo). Some of these landmarks are now reduced to rubble. Thousands of lives lost.

I also had the better fortune to be spared twice when two planned trips got cancelled: last year's supposed climb in the Annapurna region when a freak blizzard killed dozens of trekkers and Sherpas; and the Ama Dablam climb tentatively set this month, the same time the deadly earthquake hit and cut the lifeline of some climbers up the mountains. (Of course, it doesn't mean I would have been one of the casualties, and Romi said it shouldn't count because we didn't push through anyway. But I still feel lucky not to be in the wrong place at the wrong time).

I pray for the safety of all our dear Nepali and Pinoy friends, colleagues and their family living in Kathmandu, and those whom we know are now in the Solukhumbu Region.

Bhaktapur in 2012. A lot of structures in this wonderful heritage site got destroyed.