Right Place at the Right Time
Ashim and I had a chance meeting with four journalists in the cafe down by the bus stop this afternoon. The group, three from India and one from England, had gotten together through their own chance meeting in Kathmandu during the last earthquake. The six of us chatted for a while, swapped earthquake stories and had a few good laughs at the absurdity of how we had all reacted at the time.
The thinly-veiled truth was that we had all been terrified and that fear is hard to overcome. One of the guys (the group was two women and two men) had slept in a large cupboard the night after and many of our laughs were about how jumpy we all still were; the slightest bump or shaking of the floor, for any reason, was cause for tension and an abrupt halt to whatever else was being done. Even now, if my inner ear has the smallest moment of uncertainty and the floor doesn't feel perfectly level, I pause and stand perfectly still to see if another tremor has started. The same goes for any time a whole flock of birds takes flight at the same time (birds all take to the air right before a large tremor starts).
A Tenuous Calm
Today was actually very calm in terms of aftershocks. There were a few very smaller ones but everything was only at the edge of perception. We have been hearing random hints that "scientists" agree that there is a 90% chance (or some such number) that there won't be any more. That extra 10% seems concerning though; another big quake would probably be catastrophic for Nepal.
People here are mostly over the shock and trauma but a third large earthquake seems like it would utterly break that; it would be such an oddity that I fear everyone would be paralyzed with the fear of never being safe again. Even tonight, after a calm day and assurances that most houses were just as safe as they were a few days ago, almost everyone is still sleeping outside. I'm sleeping on the second floor, on a sleeping bag, right next to the stairs with my emergency supplies ready to go (light, knife/flint, wallet, passport, water).
Temple Tour
The four journalists had not seen the temple and knew very little about it so Ashim invited them to tour it and see the clean up we were doing. They were looking for more positive angles on the story of the earthquakes and a story of a family by the temple, with an American volunteer, trying to get back to normal was a good one. Plus, it is effectively impossible to get into the temple grounds to take pictures if you aren't escorted by one of the Bhattas. They are a priest family and, as such, are considered free to provide access to whomever they see fit. It was a bit disturbing to see the extra damage since the last time I'd seen it (I've been a few times); many places in the surrounding building have fallen and several of the smaller shrines as well. However, the main shrine is in good shape thanks to the tireless efforts of the army and repair workers.