Mukesh – “I grew up in the city of Katmandu which is the capital of Nepal. We have a brand named Katmandu which people buy here in Australia as well. I lived there almost 24 years and after that I came to Australia to further my studies. It is hard in Nepal to study as it is still a developing country and there is less opportunity.
I wanted to see this new place with a different culture and to learn some things from other people. I came to Australia in 2015.
In 2014 just before I came we had the big earthquake in Nepal. It was massive, 8.2 magnitude and it lasted for more than a minute. I was with my family in our living room when it came. It was the weekend and everyone, everywhere was at home. That was the lucky thing because on weekdays I would be some other place and my mum and dad would be some other place, we all would have been apart working.
On weekdays all the kids would have gone to school, all the people would be at work and everyone’s families would have been separate from each other. No-one was injured and nothing happened to my family but on that particular day more than 9,000 Nepalese people died. After that day we had more than 50 earthquakes which were not as bad but we had shocks everyday. One week later we felt another shock. Everything was still closed and gone from the week before but once again all the families were together. iI was a 7.2 and it lasted for more than 2 minutes. We thought we would all die. My home had lots of cracks but we didn’t lose our home.”
Milan – “The main epicentre was in the Western region which is a farming community but is a heavily populated rural area. My Grandfathers lived there and it was close to my village area. My family were still safe but It is a very crowded place. The tourists love that area as well so it is usually quite populated. It’s called Barbak where the epicentre was. There were 5 members of the same family killed so many times. As it is a rural area there are hills and mountains so some of the people were in the jungle and taken by the flood, some from avalanches in the mountains from the snow, landslides and heavy flooding. With the earthquake everything let’s go and cracks open.”
Mukesh – “it was a good season for foreigners as well who were trekking. Many were stuck and many were injured. There were many in Mt Everest base camp at that time so many injured.”
Milan- “Many people who were taken in the flood from the earthquake were unable to be identified as they were ripped apart. It was an unimaginable situation… There are no buildings left.”
Mukesh – “As it was mostly in a rural area all the houses were made from mud. The whole area has gone now. The governments are helping to make new houses for the people who lost everything. Over 9,000 were killed but so many more were displaced. Every year the British government take 200 Nepalese into their army so due to that reason they managed to raise funds faster.”
Milan- “When the first earthquake took place I was living in Bangalore studying computer science and engineering and that whole week was my exams. My father called me and said they had a big earthquake but I thought it was probably like a normal tremor. I saw the news, everything was down and gone and many parts of Katmandu City had collapsed…. So many historic buildings gone. The sad thing is 90% percent were world heritage listed and now totally demolished.
I was also born in Katmandu and had my higher education there. I went to Bangalore for further study and then I got married. My wife is here in Sydney and her name is Karuna. She’s a registered nurse in Nepal and is doing her placement here in Sydney. We both came here for further study. The main reason I selected Australia is because it is a multicultural country. I grew up in joint families and I like living in that kind of environment. I thought Australia would be my kind of place with more opportunity compared to Nepal, especially after the earthquake.”
Mukesh – “We are both here in Lismore and the Northern Rivers for a month or so working as IT field engineers visiting all the public schools in the region installing and updating the computer servers. Lismore is the last destination for me and Milan to finish this project. We are upgrading the whole servers. Every 5 years these need to be updated. We have seen so much of the Northern Rivers from Casino, Jiggi, Nimbin, Bangalow, Eureka, Byron, all over and all the little schools as well.
It is a beautiful place here, quiet and lots more nature than Sydney. The people here are much friendlier than in the city. The people in the city are busy in their own life and they don’t have time to chat but here in regional or rural area life is so much slower, people are so much more relaxed and have time to talk to you.”
Milan- “After I have been staying here in Lismore I feel like I could definitely move to a more regional area. I’m just planning now for our future. It’s clean and fresh here and your life is more controlled by yourself rather than others. That is what we all want in this life.”
I wanted to see this new place with a different culture and to learn some things from other people. I came to Australia in 2015.
In 2014 just before I came we had the big earthquake in Nepal. It was massive, 8.2 magnitude and it lasted for more than a minute. I was with my family in our living room when it came. It was the weekend and everyone, everywhere was at home. That was the lucky thing because on weekdays I would be some other place and my mum and dad would be some other place, we all would have been apart working.
On weekdays all the kids would have gone to school, all the people would be at work and everyone’s families would have been separate from each other. No-one was injured and nothing happened to my family but on that particular day more than 9,000 Nepalese people died. After that day we had more than 50 earthquakes which were not as bad but we had shocks everyday. One week later we felt another shock. Everything was still closed and gone from the week before but once again all the families were together. iI was a 7.2 and it lasted for more than 2 minutes. We thought we would all die. My home had lots of cracks but we didn’t lose our home.”
Milan – “The main epicentre was in the Western region which is a farming community but is a heavily populated rural area. My Grandfathers lived there and it was close to my village area. My family were still safe but It is a very crowded place. The tourists love that area as well so it is usually quite populated. It’s called Barbak where the epicentre was. There were 5 members of the same family killed so many times. As it is a rural area there are hills and mountains so some of the people were in the jungle and taken by the flood, some from avalanches in the mountains from the snow, landslides and heavy flooding. With the earthquake everything let’s go and cracks open.”
Mukesh – “it was a good season for foreigners as well who were trekking. Many were stuck and many were injured. There were many in Mt Everest base camp at that time so many injured.”
Milan- “Many people who were taken in the flood from the earthquake were unable to be identified as they were ripped apart. It was an unimaginable situation… There are no buildings left.”
Mukesh – “As it was mostly in a rural area all the houses were made from mud. The whole area has gone now. The governments are helping to make new houses for the people who lost everything. Over 9,000 were killed but so many more were displaced. Every year the British government take 200 Nepalese into their army so due to that reason they managed to raise funds faster.”
Milan- “When the first earthquake took place I was living in Bangalore studying computer science and engineering and that whole week was my exams. My father called me and said they had a big earthquake but I thought it was probably like a normal tremor. I saw the news, everything was down and gone and many parts of Katmandu City had collapsed…. So many historic buildings gone. The sad thing is 90% percent were world heritage listed and now totally demolished.
I was also born in Katmandu and had my higher education there. I went to Bangalore for further study and then I got married. My wife is here in Sydney and her name is Karuna. She’s a registered nurse in Nepal and is doing her placement here in Sydney. We both came here for further study. The main reason I selected Australia is because it is a multicultural country. I grew up in joint families and I like living in that kind of environment. I thought Australia would be my kind of place with more opportunity compared to Nepal, especially after the earthquake.”
Mukesh – “We are both here in Lismore and the Northern Rivers for a month or so working as IT field engineers visiting all the public schools in the region installing and updating the computer servers. Lismore is the last destination for me and Milan to finish this project. We are upgrading the whole servers. Every 5 years these need to be updated. We have seen so much of the Northern Rivers from Casino, Jiggi, Nimbin, Bangalow, Eureka, Byron, all over and all the little schools as well.
It is a beautiful place here, quiet and lots more nature than Sydney. The people here are much friendlier than in the city. The people in the city are busy in their own life and they don’t have time to chat but here in regional or rural area life is so much slower, people are so much more relaxed and have time to talk to you.”
Milan- “After I have been staying here in Lismore I feel like I could definitely move to a more regional area. I’m just planning now for our future. It’s clean and fresh here and your life is more controlled by yourself rather than others. That is what we all want in this life.”