New Delhi : Famed international actress Michelle Yeoh (The Lady, James Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) arrived in Nepal to join Live to Love International’s relief aid operation in the aftermath of 7.9 earthquake that devastated the Himalayas on 25th April. Yeoh joined a network of several hundred Live to Love volunteers now delivering food and supplies to remote regions affected by the disaster.
Villagers in Ramkot and Thaple, outside of Kathmandu, welcomed the Live to Love emergency aid team, lead by Yeoh, arrived with food and crucial supplies in the wake of last week’s 7.2 aftershock that triggered a new wave of structure collapses and landslides.
Several prefabricated community halls will be erected to house victims of the quake, a crucial need as monsoon season nears and dry shelter becomes scarce. Live to Love is currently drafting plans for eight additional community halls in Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Sindhupalchok, and Ramechhap districts to shelter over 2,000 displaced Nepalis. Designs for earthquake-proof permanent homes are also in the works, as Live to Love collaborates with on-ground partners like the Panchakanya group and the Drukpa Kung Fu Nuns.
A special ceremony took place in Druk Amitabha Mountain yesterday to mark the extensive efforts to rehabilitate and rebuild Nepal in the months ahead. Honorable Finance Minister of Nepal, Dr. Ram Saran Mahat and Mr. Pradeep Kumar Shrestha from the Secretariat of SAARC, were among guests who attended the event and lauded the prompt response efforts made by Live to Love, an international non-profit that specializes in Himalayan humanitarian aid.
Actress Michelle Yeoh, a Global Ambassador of Live to Love, commented, “The first priority is to provide shelter for people before the monsoon season begins. Then, we help rebuild lives and restore what was lost in this terrible disaster.”
The Gyalwang Drukpa, founder of the Live to Love, environmentalist, and United Nations MDG Honoree, added that the disaster has been a painful but crucial wake up call for the rest of the world. “We cannot afford to build unsafe buildings, and cannot afford to live in an ecologically unfriendly way anymore,” stipulating the damages caused by the earthquake are made worse by a lack of natural resources like clean water. The Gyalwang Drukpa made an appeal for organizations and individuals from around the world to come together and collaborate in the long-term reconstruction of Nepal.