NIU professor in Nepal shocked after second earthquake
A Northern Illinois University professor who's teaching in Nepal said he was warned when he arrived for a semester on a Fulbright scholarship that the region was due for a major earthquake.
When the first quake struck April 25, Mark Rosenbaum of Naperville said he wasn't shocked.
Now, he is.
A second earthquake, this one a magnitude 7.3, hit Nepal on Tuesday and Rosenbaum said living conditions that were stabilizing now have worsened.
“No one prepared me for this,” he said Tuesday via Skype. “We're struggling to have normality in our lives and it's extremely difficult.”
After the first earthquake, which killed more than 8,000 people, Rosenbaum and others in Kathmandu worked to find stable housing and get back to their daily lives.
The school where he is teaching, Kathmandu University's School of Management, had both its main buildings deemed structurally unsound. But classes went on in tents near the buildings.
“I was actually teaching in one of these makeshift tents when the (second) earthquake occurred,” Rosenbaum said.
He and his students ran from under the tent while the ground was shaking and stayed safe.
The trucks that supply drinking and bathing water have been making their deliveries and the building where Rosenbaum is living remains safe, he said. But monsoon season is approaching, and with it could come mudslides that may wash out important roads or sicken people who are now sleeping outside for fear their homes might collapse.
“People's nerves are just frayed,” Rosenbaum said. “Life was returning back to normal and I just feel as though we've moved back.”
Still, Rosenbuam, 47, is telling family, colleagues and friends that he's staying until June 4. That's when he was due to head home after completing his Fulbright term helping the university launch a doctoral program in business and studying why Nepalese men choose to work abroad and how street harassment of women and girls affects the economy.
The university will be closed Wednesday, Rosenbaum said, which raises concerns that students will fall too far behind to complete their coursework. He might meet with small groups in coffee shops to continue instruction, but he says it's challenging for anyone to concentrate.
“So many students have stories of destruction that I question their ability to actually process new material given the psychological damage that they're dealing with,” he said.
One student is worried about having to work in a store on the fourth floor of a shopping mall that has been deemed structurally unsound. Other neighbors fear crumbling structures nearby might weaken their homes' structural integrity. Everyone wants the ground to stay put.
“The ground has to stop shaking,” Rosenbaum said. “Until that occurs, we cannot return to a state of normal.”
Fundraiser for Nepal
One fundraiser for earthquake victims in Nepal, where Naperville resident and NIU professor Mark Rosenbaum is teaching on a Fulbright scholarship, is scheduled to take place Monday, May 18 at Meson Sabika restaurant. Here are details:
What: Nepal Earthquake Fundraiser
When: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday, May 18
Where: Meson Sabika restaurant, 1025 Aurora Ave., Naperville
Who: Meson Sabika will donate 100 percent of proceeds to the American Red Cross for earthquake relief efforts in Nepal.
Cost: Tapas menu items and desserts start about $6.50
Info: mesonsabika.com, search <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1585243325082200/">Mason Sabika on Facebook</a> or call (630) 983-3000
Other ways to help: Charities including Catholic Relief Services, Unicef, Oxfam America, World Vision and the Salvation Army also have funds to collect donations for Nepal earthquake victims.