Update Tsum Project
Since May, we were able to send eight helicopters of 400-450 kg supplies each to the community of nuns at Gompa Lungtang. Located in the remote Tsum Valley on the border with Tibet, the area continues to be accessible by helicopter alone due to frequently occurring landslides that block the walking trails along the Budhi Ghandaki River in the lowlands.
Your support has meant getting rice, lentils, oil, salt, blankets, tents, and tarpaulins to the nuns—all of them homeless and vulnerable as their houses collapsed. We believe to be successful in our target to bring the nuns safe through the rainy season yet the necessary steps for the reconstruction process are still in their infancy. Recently, Ezwo Engineering Consultants from Augsburg granted support in this project. Timo Plachta, an architect specialized in energy efficient building techniques visited the site, and together with Nadine Plachta, resident representative at the South Asia Institute’s Kathmandu Office, he carried out a detailed survey of the nunnery and its health clinic, which is located in the nearby village of Domje, to develop a proper architectural plan for the reconstruction.
We are further in the process to set up a team of experts (architect, engineer, geologist), active youth, and local community members in order to utilize local natural and human resources to rebuild sustainably and more earthquake proof. Stonemasons will soon start to do the preparatory work of crushing and working stones so that we eventually can start with the rebuilding after monsoon in October.
