Update (May 19 3:00 am PST): Brian left on the helicopter a few hours ago. We are unsure of the duration of his trip. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers
Original Post:
This post is from an email that Brian Smith, Executive Director of HAND just sent.
Tonight I was whisked away to the military base for final discussions with the generals. I board a Nepal military helicopter at 0730. We know that we have 160 bodies to recover in one village. We know we have 16 inside of one bus. We know that we have additional cars and busses. We know that now we have at least 200 Nepalis to recover on this mission to Dolakha. For this, I am very sad for the tremendous amount of lives lost, in a single small area. I am honored that the Nepal military has embedded me into their unit to assist in the effort. The General is requesting some body bags for me, but it will probably come down to tarps and muscle power. They are also requesting heavy equipment to remove some of the large boulders. I am totally self-contained with food and supplies in my deployment bag. It is a dangerous mission. I appreciate everyone's prayers as we go into ground zero.
As we hear from Brian, we will post updates. Thank you everyone for your support during this difficult mission.