www.awnw.com.au
Issue #283 – Wednesday, 27 May, 2015
Albury Wodonga’s largest circulating newspaper
Spotlight on manufacturing The North East’s profile as a manufacturing hub is set to receive a boost through a forum to showcase the region. FOR THE FULL STORY, TURN TO PAGE 2.
After the shock By ERIN SOMERVILLE SUE Chamberlain is still left pondering how the earth didn’t shatter the day a 8.1 magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal last month. The local woman was trekking through Nepal with Wodonga resident and Nepal native Ang Rita Sherpa as the quake struck, and had to brace herself throughout the shock. “The sensation is very difficult to describe,� she said. “Initially there was a massive bang and then the air pressure changed, and it was playing with my head. “I had to spread-eagle my poles out and ride it out. “I still think how solid ground could wave like that and not break up.� The quake only lasted for around two minutes, but for those who experienced it, it felt much longer. Although Ms Chamberlain was out in the open, she had fellow trekkers behind her in areas subject to rockfalls, while two avalanches had ploughed through Everest Base Camp where they should have been. The foggy weather had luckily set them on a different course. From there, with no communication, the trekking group relied on the “Sherpa Telegraph� for news. It took a while before the group reached towns and villages and began to understand the real devastation caused by the quake despite being still so far from the epicentre. You won’t see many photos of destruction on Ms Chamberlain’s camera. After seeing the terrible fatalities and injuries suffered by the people she had come to love, she soon put her lens away, and paid her respects as best she could. The trekking group stayed mostly in accommodation that had been damaged by the quake, with rooms that
Sue Chamberlain in Nepal with Peter Hillary, son of Sir Edmund Hillary. Picture: SUPPLIED were only half usable, and continually had to ride out the aftershocks. Ms Chamberlain even had clothes ready beside her bed in the event of an emergency evacuation at night. “I’d be lying in bed thinking ‘oh is there another one coming’�. Ms Chamberlain arrived back home in Australia safely in time for Mother’s Day, however the images of a scarred Nepal - a country and its people who she came to know and love over her years of visiting - weighs heavily on her mind. She is now reminding all Australians not to forget or avoid Nepal as it
The group at Gorak Shep as they turned back from Everest Base Camp on the morning of the earthquake and subsequent deadly avalanche.139363
faces a long road ahead to rebuild. ‘Nepal needs the tourists, it’s their number one form of income,� she said. “There are plenty of things to do, and the people are just beautiful. “If they stop going, how on earth are they going to rebuild their infrastructure.� The infrastructure Ms Chamberlain is talking about includes schools that have been destroyed, hospitals and medical facilities that have been reduced to rubble, and homes that have crumbled. Continued on page 4
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