As reports began surfacing of the shocking earthquake devastation in Nepal, Mike Savas & Max Rantz-McDonald quickly assembled their resources to fly to Kathmandu and assist in the rescue efforts.
They were able to acquire some useful gear during transit and are now in Nepal helping in whatever way they can with two aerial drone cameras, a portable generator, medical supplies, and as much positive energy as two people can carry.
In this feature, Max Rantz-McDonald tells us what it’s like to be on the ground in Nepal following the devastating earthquake. You can keep up to date with his story over on Instagram.com/TheAdventureFactory.
By Max Rantz-McDonald
We are currently on a two day mission to drop off generators and food to communities and villages that have hardly been reached.
To give you a bit of background, a very good friend of mine, Mike Savas and I were in Bali filming villas with aerial drones and taking some time off as well.
Max pictured left, Mike right
A day after the earthquake hit we were at Nikki Beach, Bali, sitting in a stark contrast to the setting we would be traveling to. We decided there and then that we would go to Nepal to help out in any way we could. I mean, who are we not to go and help those in need?
We cancelled a few aerial shoots and I had to pull out of a concert in New Zealand. We booked the next available flight and grabbed medical supplies, food and other aid, as well as manual labour tools and a generator to donate to a village that has lost power.
When we landed in Bangkok on a layover we hit the shops again getting more supplies to bring over, including tents.
The biggest thing we were told was don’t go over unless you’ve someone on the ground. Mike had volunteered on 9/11 with the Volunteer Ministers that deploy and help out at all major disasters. After one phone call they agreed to let us crash on their floor and help us with translation if we needed it.
Not knowing what we were getting ourselves in for, whether we would have phone signal or even power, we circled above Kathmandu for a few hours due to congestion before landing and parking on the runway.
There were no bays left as the airport was so busy and so we walked the length of the runway. We were one of the first international first responders to make it on the ground.
We actually just met the head of the police force this morning, as he personally heard about us and wanted to meet with us. He brought along a TV crew from the national TV station and they had a chat with us. He wants us to come back next month to set up a large scale housing project for 1,000 homes.
Before we arrived, we set up an online donation page: youcaring.com/maxandmikenepalaid. Within just eight days we hit $30,000. Our goal was $10,000.
We are now on $43,000 and very much on track to break $50,000. Our angle and the one we are going to recreate for future disasters is personal trust through social media. We committed to people that we would make sure to use their donations on the individuals that need it most on the ground.
We strive to go from donation made online, to money withdrawn, food/tents/generators purchased to finally getting it in the hands of the people that need it most, all within 36-48 hours. We show transparency through a constant (when signal is strong enough) social media presence via SnapChat, Instagram, and Facebook.
Our flight had been full of Asian Search and Rescue teams from South Korea, Thailand and Japan. It was incredible to witness so many people helping out of the goodness of their own hearts and so many more nations had a presence at the disaster sites.
Once on the ground, we went straight out with our DJI drone camera to support Search and Rescue teams with aerial assistance by giving them eyes in the sky looking down. We focused on Kathmandu for the first few days.
Even though we were independent, we came to know someone on a Canadian K9 search and rescue team so we went to the daily UN Urban Search and Rescue Task Force and got deployed to an area.
After three days we went on our first mission outside of Kathmandu valley. We headed out with UKaid, Los Topos (the moles) a specialist Mexican S&R team who are famous for being some of the best in the world, and Dutch and Spanish crews.
It was a 5 hour drive in a very cramped bus. We got there by night fall and had to sleep outside even after being warned about mountain tigers.
The international response to the disaster has been nothing short of heart warming and I’ve heard a few people say it has restored their faith in humanity. Most countries are represented (apart from Ireland, by the looks of it on the ground) in the different UN camps that have been set up.
The current situation is that the S&R teams have been told to wrap up by the government and all but one have left the country. In Kathmandu there are a good few tent villages and rubble hasn’t started to be removed, even from the most touristy areas.
There is a serious fear that any buildings that are still standing might not survive monsoon season with most buildings not structurally sound after the quake. You can visibly see cracks everywhere.
Outside the capital things are bad. Some high mountain villages can only be accessed by helicopter which are hard to come by. A few days ago a man stopped us on his motor bike. There was a 3 year old girl still under rubble. This was a week after the quake.
We followed him in our dump truck. We were climbing for 2 hours to this seriously remote village. On the way we passed village after village that had not gotten any aid yet. We gave them all the aid we had in our truck. About 400 food packs.
Once at the top of the mountain, we had to trek for 30 minutes through lush rice fields to be met by the whole village. We sent the dogs in, dug for hours and used the drone.
Unfortunately we didn’t find her but we did bring her brother back to the field medical hospital in UN HQ, as the child had previously been under the rubble for 24hours.
We were later told we saved his foot from amputation. He was the only extraction from that day. Dead or alive.
That the same day I spotted a figure floating in a river. I had to swim across rapids to profile the body.
We have been filming the whole time and we will make a little documentary on our efforts. By the end of it we will have given 30 generators, 10,000 food packs and 500 tents to the Nepalese people that needed it most after the devastating earthquake that rocked this already very poor nation.
I don’t know if this nation will ever recover from this…
For more info on how you can help Max & Mike in Nepal check out their YourCaring.com page, and for updates on their mission check out Instagram, Max’s Facebook page and Mike’s Facebook page.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
