This will be brief.
The big aftershock of May 12th didn't just jolt the buildings of the country, it served as a reminder that the earthquake is not over. The Nepal government was beginning to stand down some of the foreign teams before May 12th, sending them home. This changed. Also, the government declared a two-week holiday for schools, colleges and Universities.
Life in Kathmandu and the epicenter is not normal.
If any nurse or doctor is thinking of volunteering, they need to read up on the health system of Nepal. My wordpress site is Nursing in Nepal. There you will find about 150 blog entries on the subject of nursing and hospitals, with an especial focus on critical care in Nepal.
You need to do more than just dust off your old copy of The Snow Leopard or Into Thin Air. Neither of these will prepare you for the urban megalopolis of Kathmandu. There are only a few books available in USA that describe the boots-on-the-ground current status of Nepal health care.
Let me be very clear; don't come to Nepal unless you know what you are doing. Don't send supplies from USA - they can get everything cheaper from India, over land. They need funding for supplies; the supplies used here are not interchangeable with those from USA hospitals.
Nepal is not an easy "first Asian country" even though the people here are wonderful. And even if you have visited Nepal, if you have never been in a hospital here, it is a whole nother ballgame. Nurses and doctors in any country ( not just Nepal) will always see a side of the location that the tourists (and even the Peace Corps volunteers) do not.
Despite these warnings, if you are compelled to come here, you need to prepare. start studying now.
Disclosure: My two books are The Hospital at the End of the World and The Sacrament of the Goddess. These were written with the specific goal of informing western health personnel as to the day=to-day unvarnished working conditions in hospitals here in Nepal. I am referring you to these because of my expertise. That I know of, I am the only American-born RN from USA to hold a nursing license in Nepal.
When the earthquake hit, members of the Nurses Association of Nepalis in America got on the plane.
They went to the area that was hardest hit.
Without further adieu, I wrote a blog to share the assessment made by one of their members, on my other site. I am crossposting the link here.
Click on this link to read the description of conditions in the rural areas
Here is a report.
This gives you an idea of the situation in the rural areas.
There are two Nepals in this situation. Urban Kathmandu, which will now have sanitation problems and is still experiencing aftershocks that terrorize the population; and the rural areas. In the latter, the food security NGOs are predicting a famine unless something is done - food stocks will be affected because this is planting season. Up to one and a half million people, will be affected by the food shortage. (Nepal is a net importer of food).
Normally the poll for DKos is cutesy - I'm having difficulty thinking of something clever, partly because of the news that six US Marines lost their lives flying a helicopter relief mission. I am presently teaching critical care skills at a hospital in the Terai. Out front is a rest spot with a bo tree - the species of tree under which Buddha gained enlightenment. I have lit a candle there for those guys. My heart goes out their families.