LAST Sunday evening, 30 August, members of the local Nepalese community, together with friends, supporters and members of the wider Coffs Coast community, gathered at the Key Community Group for a candle-lighting ceremony and prayers for Nepal in the wake of the catastrophic floods.
For members of the Nepalese community living on the Coffs Coast, the disaster has been particularly distressing because many have family members, relatives and friends in Nepal.
Lighting candles has been a symbol of hope and remembrance across cultures and religions for centuries and, for many in attendance, the candles represented the hope that those still missing will be found safely and that families separated by the disaster will soon receive good news.
Participants stood together for a minute’s silence followed by prayer, reflecting on the lives lost and the enormous challenges facing survivors.
Sanjay Kumar Tamang knows a family that is frantically searching for a missing young man whom Sanjay considers as a younger brother.
He said that the roads are inaccessible and communications have been cut but the Nepalese Prime Minister has an engineering background and the government, police and army were doing as good a job as possible.
“I am grateful to all my friends and the Coffs Harbour community for their support,” Mr Tamang said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are also with the families of Australians and other nationalities who remain missing with everyone anxiously waiting for news.”
The Nepalese community expressed its appreciation to Katherine Cross and the Key Community Group for making the venue available, as well as Monique Buggy and Naomi Steinborner from STARTTS for their support and assistance.
Special thanks were also given to the many volunteers who contributed their time and effort to organise the gathering.
Htun Htun Oo, from the Coffs Coast Multicultural Society, which also supported the event, said, “My heart goes out to my Nepalese brothers and sisters, their families and the entire Nepalese community.”
He said the gathering demonstrated the strength of multicultural communities on the Coffs Coast, showing that people do not have to share the same background, culture or religion to stand beside one another during times of tragedy.
Rajesh Shresthra, who spoke at the event, said there were more than 100 Nepalese living in Coffs Harbour, many of them medical students.
Mr Shrestra said satellite photos over the years showed the extent of melting in the Himalayas and governments hadn’t done enough to protect the population.
“It’s a ticking time bomb. Eight of the world’s highest mountains are in Nepal with glaciers around them that are melting because of global warming.
“There have been some minor incidents but not enough notice has been taken and not enough notification of what was happening.”
Mr Tamang said there were many other lakes in Nepal that were gradually melting.
“My humble request to leaders all over the world is to reduce our carbon emissions and save the Himalayas and the world,” he said.
He urged people to donate what they could.
Donations can be made directly through the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund: https://pmdrf.nchl.com.np/
By Andrew VIVIAN
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