Nepal mudslides, flash flooding: Milwaukee community rallies

Hi everybody, Sam Kramer back with you here on the Wisconsin Live Desk. It is Friday, August 28th, September Labor Day, almost here. Certainly a lot of things to look forward to here in Wisconsin, but we're also keeping our eyes on what is happening across the world. And a major story this week, a heartbreaking story this week, has been the devastating natural disaster that has unfolded in Nepal, right on its border with China. After glaciers there and the Himalayan mountains melted, triggering this intense intense mudslide that has just devastated communities there. Chances are you have seen some video of this. And joining us to talk about that today as I bring in our guest here is Shashank Pokraljosi. Did I pronounce your name correctly? Yes, that's correct. Excellent, well thank you for joining us. He is with the Milwaukee Nepali Parivar. Give us an idea of what your organization is. Okay Sam, first of all thank you so much for having me and being a platform for our organization to show our voice and how we are feeling. So my name is Shashank Pokraljosi and I'm here today as one of the board members of Milwaukee Nepali Parivar. And Parivar means family in Nepali and that really describes who we are. Milwaukee Nepali Parivar is a volunteer driven non-profit that has been serving the Nepali community in Milwaukee and southeastern part of Wisconsin since 2012. We work to preserve Nepali culture, language, and traditions, support families, organize educational and cultural programs, and help connect the Nepali community with the broader Wisconsin community. The Nepali American community is an integral part of Milwaukee and Wisconsin and we are working in hospitals and healthcare, universities, small businesses, education, and many other areas. And that shows that we are your co-workers, your neighbors, your friends, and member of the same community. Absolutely, it's a way to kind of merge those cultures to say that yes we are here but yes we also have family and friends from Nepal. As you have watched what has unfolded this week, and again I think people can see the video, have no connection to Nepal, but you can absolutely feel something when you watch that. For you and for the Nepali Parivar, how has this week been? I have to imagine it is just gut-wrenching to know that this has happened to a community that your community cares about but then also there are people there I'm sure that you guys know and that is such a heartbreaking element to this. Yes, exactly. From my perspective and my reaction when I first saw the news I honestly could not believe the extent of the devastation. I was just shocked and frozen for like a minute or five and just processing everything that I saw and this has never happened before and it is the first kind of disaster like this we have seen in Nepal and even being thousands of miles away it hurts to watch and I cannot imagine the pain of the families and the communities experiencing this firsthand are going through and when we hear about the disaster sometimes we hear about statistics but every person affected has their own lives, their own family, people who love them, a home that they have worked all their lives, plans and a community around them and that that just makes this so heartbreaking. Yeah and you mentioned the statistics there because it does help to for people to contextualize but you're right it doesn't speak to the total devastation as we're looking at some video here of the aftermath. There have been rescue crews doing frankly dangerous jobs, rappelling down into situations sometimes over the Chinese border, you know, helicoptering in. They are looking in desolate areas but also communities are completely overrun here by these flooding scenarios. You see people just covered in mud based on the rescues that have happened. The latest numbers that we have from the Associated Press is that nearly 600 people have died, another 2,500 are still missing. Fortunately as we have seen in this video there are some people that have been fortunate enough to be rescued and there is certainly a miracle in that and this work is only just beginning. It is going to take a long time. So what is it that you know the Milwaukee organization is doing to support your friends, your family, your communities in Nepal after going through this? Yeah so right now Milwaukee Nepali Parure is assessing the situation and trying to understand the realities and needs on the ground and planning how we can respond to this in the most meaningful way. Our first step is to bring together the Nepali American community here in southeastern Wisconsin and inviting the broader community, our friends, neighbors, co-workers to stand with us. And yesterday we had an open community meeting and we are still figuring out who in our Nepali American community is impacted by this. And just to mention we have now launched a GoFundMe fundraiser to support the response to this catastrophe and we are continuing to evaluate how we can best help as the situation develops and donation does not have to be large to matter. Even something around the price of a cup of coffee when many people come together can become meaningful support and if someone is not in the position to donate sharing the fundraiser is also incredibly helpful because it may reach someone who can. And the fund raised through the campaign will be coordinated by Milwaukee Nepali Parure and transferred to government of Nepal official prime minister's disaster relief fund. And I do have two more things to say. One is we have a fundraising lunch at the Hindu temple of Wisconsin tomorrow starting at 11 30 a.m. and which will end around 2 30 p.m. And lastly this isn't the only about raising money. This is also a tremendous human life. We are planning for the candlelight vigil which will take place this Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Hindu temple of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. This gives our community a space to remember those who lost their lives stand with the families who are grieving and support one another right here in Wisconsin even though we are geographically far away. Emotionally this is very close to us. Yeah I'm driven by that temple too. It's a beautiful place there in Milwaukee and I imagine it will be a beautiful candlelight vigil and really as you talked about and I want to close on this you don't have to be from Nepal or connected to Nepal to feel for the people that live there and to feel for the people that are affected by this. So I have to imagine you guys are opening your doors to whomever wants to be involved in this whoever wants to donate whoever wants to mourn to just provide that space for people to come together. Exactly and I hope people remember the humanity behind what they are seeing. Exactly all right Shashank Pokrell Josie from the Milwaukee Nepali Parivar. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Wisconsin Lab Desk. We appreciate it. Yeah thank you. Absolutely. So important discussion there about again what has happened the the intersection of stories across the world and communities here in Wisconsin there um there's a saying in our newsroom there always seems to be this Wisconsin connection uh and certainly that is evident here on this story and you heard him talk there about the fact that they are still assessing things in Nepal. Rescuers are still finding places that they have not yet been to have not yet been able to access due to the devastation due to roads wiping out infrastructure crumbling after just these massive mudslides came down the mountains. So if you're looking at it from a physics standpoint there really is nothing these communities could have done this has never happened before in the in this part of the Himalayans that according to the Associated Press. So it is just a really helpless situation when you're watching that video and you're seeing people there with nowhere to go with nowhere to turn and so certainly it is going to take a long time for communities there to clean up to gather to mourn the people that have died and then to also rebuild. It's going to be a difficult process and as we have looked at disasters here whether it be in Wisconsin or other parts of the U.S. think about hurricanes or tornadoes down to our south. The American Red Cross and other organizations like that have said look we don't necessarily know what we need right away sometimes it's money and actually Menasha did this with the tornado that they saw a little more than a month ago now. We can start with money maybe it's water maybe it's you know clothing items for families that suddenly have nothing. It takes time to assess that to see where things are and then to really hone in and ask people around the world as is happening in this case for the appropriate help. So it is it it's really uplifting and empowering to see communities here in Milwaukee including the Milwaukee Nepali Parivar starting a GoFundMe as we heard posting a fundraising lunch tomorrow at the Hindu temple there in Pewaukee and then also holding a candlelight vigil again Sunday at six o'clock at the Hindu temple of Wisconsin. We're gonna step away for a quick break when we return more of the day's news from Wisconsin and beyond. You're watching the Wisconsin Live Desk.