Blogs

A second massive earthquake struck Nepal May 12, 2015. Los Topos, part of the Scientology Nepal Disaster Response Team, worked with Nepali police and army to help evacuate a hospital and search a collapsed building for any sign of victims trapped inside.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers sprang into action when the second major earthquake in 17 days hit Nepal 12 May. In the pandemonium that erupted when a 7.3 earthquake struck Nepal Tuesday on the heels of the massive 7.8 temblor just 17 days before – and resulting in dozens of additional deaths and several thousand new injuries – the seasoned first responders on the Scientology Nepal Disaster Response Team sprung into action to help with a fresh rescue effort to support those at risk, and to work to restore calm.

An aerial drone takes in the scene of the yellow-shirted Scientology Volunteer Ministers passing out food and tarps to families in need in the outskirts of Kathmandu. The drone was used to help in the search and rescue effort after the April 25 earthquake.

A pair of drones served a vital purpose in traversing landslide-strewn Nepal roads, when two men, part of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Nepal disaster response, used the images from these devices in the search and rescue operation.

Arriving in Nepal on April 29 and joining the Scientology Volunteer Ministers team, two live event producers made unusual and valuable use of the small aerial drones they use in their work, when they trekked to the small remote mountain villages bordering China several hours outside Kathmandu.

Hector "El Chino" Mendez, the founder of Los Topos (in the yellow scarf) with the leaders of other first responder teams at a meeting to coordinate search and rescue efforts. Mendez, a trained Scientology Volunteer Minister, displays his Volunteer Minister badge on his uniform.

Los Topos are utterly competent, dedicated and skilled rescue workers who, because of their experience, are trusted to go into areas others are forbidden to enter because of safety concerns. Thus, for the first three days after their arrival in Nepal, they carried out search and rescue in the district hardest hit by the April 25 earthquake, close to the border of China.

A team of 38 Volunteer Ministers are providing relief to villages in the Sindhupalchowk region of Nepal, which suffered the country’s greatest casualties and property damage in the April 25 Nepal earthquake.

Our Disaster Relief team is 105 strong including 68 Nepalese and 37 who have flown in from abroad, including the US, Colombia, Taiwan, Fiji, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Pakistan and India.

Scientology Volunteer ministers visited orphanages with gifts of food and toys. Useful as ground cloths and tents, tarps serve both as bed and roof for those who lost their homes in the Nepal earthquake of 25 April.

We visited an amazing orphanage today and passed out food and toys to 40 children who are all crammed together on two floors since sleeping on the top floors is too risky. They welcomed us with traditional Nepalese scarves, and we delivered meal packs and high fives! We ended this trip with an all orphanage Nepalese sing along...it was a very special moment and the kids could not have been happier to see us.

Volunteer Ministers and their search and rescue partners at the Scientology Mission of Kathmandu that serves as the base camp for Scientology Nepal Disaster Response.

Within 24 hours of the deadly and destructive magnitude 7.8 earthquake that rocked Nepal on April 25, Scientology’s Volunteer Ministers mobilized emergency response teams in the nation’s capital of Kathmandu to assist in combing the rubble for survivors and distributing needed supplies in the ravaged Asian country.

The following is a report from one of the Volunteer Ministers in Nepal:

“Another late night here. Today was the toughest day so far as the final official day of the search and rescue mission came to a close.

Handing out food and supplies in remote Nepal villages.

This is an update from one of our volunteers in Nepal: 

“Yesterday, we convinced two local boys with a massive truck to take us around to the local villages with the Canadian Search and Disaster Dog Association.”

“Most of the villages on the main road had been checked and cleared but people were living in camps of 25-50 people, tarps on the ground. They have no food, no money, and no shelter aside from the tarps.”