The Barcelona native Valentín Pérez arrived for the first time Nepal in 2011 and fell in love with the country and Pasang Bhuti Tamang. He ended up marrying her, after passing the pertinent bureaucratic obstacles, and now they both live in Estepona. He 28 April, three days after the earthquake that hit the Himalayan country, They took a flight to reach Langtang as soon as possible, where Pasang was born, to see his family. They couldn't get that far. Now the Catalan, of 38 years, and his Tibetan wife, of 25, They try to help their people get ahead.
The deadly avalanche that occurred after the earthquake devastated the entire Langtang Valley, erasing towns and forests from the map. The shock wave generated by the violence of the avalanche wiped out all life left in the valley and its slopes.. The place is a lunar setting and under meters of rubble lie hundreds of corpses. Many others have been recovered.
"(The Tibetans) they want to return, but now the rainy season begins for three months. They can't do anything there because the ice is above the houses. Hay que esperar a que se derrita cuando venga la lluvia del verano y entonces reconstruirán todo", Valentine account, in a conversation that takes place in the Tibetan refugee camp in Kathmandu. Some live there 150 Langtang survivors. "Pero, when the rains uncover the rubble, it will be a cemetery. She further , Yes here in Kathmandu it is difficult to remove bodies from under a building, over there, for its conditions, seguro que cuesta más", duck.
Devastating avalanche
Valentín feels that he has to help them because they are his family and because they are practically alone. His wife thinks the same.. "Nosotros somos tibetanos, we are isolated and we live off tourists. El gobierno nepalí seguramente no se centre en una población que nunca ha considerado suya", says this woman who has just finished studying Tourism in Spain. "Nunca nos ayudaron, por eso no tenemos esperanza de que ahora lo hagan".
Pasang's father and brother managed to flee the devastating avalanche by running through a hail of rocks. His mother was not so lucky and lost her life in the valley. The daughter wants to recover a body that is still buried under the rubble. "Sé perfectamente dónde está mi madre. He went to pick potatoes. He said goodbye to my father there. Está sepultada bajo muchos metros en una zona con muchos muertos", says the young woman.
Pasang's father returned home shortly after the avalanche to collect the jewelry because in his community it is tradition to keep the gold at home., that passes from generation to generation and is only sold if it is really necessary. Then he witnessed the force of a mountain that literally fell into the valley.
The Nepalese police and local volunteers have been removing bodies of residents and foreign tourists who were hiking for days.. It is believed that the six missing Spanish mountaineers are there and it is where the body of Roser Palau was found., the first Spanish woman to die as a result of the earthquake. "Cuesta reconocer a los muertos que vemos. The ones they have found are sometimes not complete, They are missing an arm or they only find the head. A veces con la ropa conseguimos identificarles", says the young Tibetan. Survivors retain a trauma that only time will take away. "Muchos tienen heridas en las piernas, ribs or face, como si fuese metralla", says Valentin, who claims that at first he wrote to embassies, including the Spanish one in Delhi, asking for information and help and got little response.
Aware that the focus on Nepal will dissipate, The goal of this couple is to help long-term from a distance while the young people of Langtang seek support in Kathmandu. "Ahora todo el mundo hace donaciones pero de aquí a unos meses nadie dará nada, That's why we want to start collecting money to deposit it and so, when they rebuild the town again, puedan contar con lo recaudado", says the Catalan, who works in Spain as a cartoonist and is even thinking about a possible volunteer program for foreigners to go and build buried homes.. He knows that his wife's family, his neighbors and all the inhabitants of Langtang will end up returning to their valley. "Volverán, They will have to wait for the injured to get better and for the rains to clean the area, but they will return. En realidad no tienen otro sitio donde ir".
