How Singapore can make a difference in Nepal's reconstruction

I HAD heard so many times from my parents about their scary experiences of the massive earthquake that had shaken Kathmandu and its residents some 80 years ago in January 1934. It sounded then to me to be nothing more than a very interesting story. I never realised that I would be going through similar harrowing experiences of an earthquake of 7.8 magnitude on April 25, 2015.

The eruption may have lasted less than a minute but the devastation that it caused to the city and all over Nepal certainly will be felt for a very long time, with a death toll of over 7,000 (and counting), an estimated 300,000 houses either destroyed or damaged. The government estimates reconstruction costs to exceed US$10 billion - or over 50 per cent of GDP.

I have now personally experienced existential fear and have seen with my own eyes the instant destruction of longstanding historic monuments and buildings and physical infrastructure, the horror and fear in the faces of people having to fight for their lives as the land beneath them started cracking violently.