Feature: Earthquake reminds Nepalis importance of life, family

UN extends condolences over chopper crash,"read the title of a buried story carried in both local English and Nepali newspapers on Thursday. The title is a chilling one for Sophiya Shrestha (the name has been changed ), a Nepali girl who just lost her brother in-law in the fatal crash, one of the four killed by the relief chopper accident on June 2.

When Sophiya heard the news the day before yesterday that a private helicopter with a call sign 9N-AJP crashed in a forest in the Sindhupalchowk district, one of the 14 most affected districts of the great earthquakes and all four people, including a female Dutch passenger on aboard died, she did not realize that the second chopper accident after the devastating earthquake of April 25 in Nepal had direct relations with her until she got a call from her elder sister on Tuesday evening.

The unexpected call from the beginning had an eerie feeling about it and surprised the 27-year-old girl because her estranged sister had not contacted her for nearly three years, even after the great earthquakes in April and May that had killed more than 8, 700 people across the country and traumatized all survivors who were in dire need of mutual comfort after the calamities.

The two sisters have been living in the capital city of Kathmandu separately for more than 10 years, according to Sophiya who now believes that the tragedy has broken the ice and that they will be no longer be cut off from each other. "My brother in-law was only 38-years-old and with a steady and well-paid job, he had a very bright future. Now he has gone in a flash, survived by my sister and his two young daughters, I have no idea how my sister alone can support the family with the loss of its pillar."

Sophiya shared her concerns with Xinhua on Thursday morning at a cafe in less-crowded Kathmandu, adding that she needs to visit her sister more often and build a more intimate relation with her relatives.

For this congenial lady who has been working for Nepal's government agency for the past few years, the earthquake has caused a myriad of problems and changes, and they won' be over until the fat lady sings.

While accomplishing her daily tasks in her office, this single girl often has to go to hospital to take care of her close friend Sumesh, a career diplomat of Nepal's government whose backbone was injured seriously in the earthquake about forty days ago and has been bedridden since then.

She juggles her time between work and visits to her quake-hit friend, slowly getting used to this new busy life, which is quiet different from her self-centered one before the disaster.

After a period of treatment, especially by a care team from the China Charity Federation Long-Term Care Professional Committee, her friend's condition gradually improved.

His view of life also changed, according to Sophiya. Before the biggest national calamity of this Himalayan nation since 1934, the civil servant, only interested in saving money, rarely walks into a cinema or a coffee shop for pleasure after work. "It was no fun to stay with this single man. He just stopped at nothing to accumulate money and he was more concerned about his family's well being."The girl who had felt lonely within this relationship made a telling remark to her friend, one of some 22000 Nepalis injured in the tremors. "Do you know what his oft-told sentences now are?"Sophiya then answered her own question,saying"health and personal happiness."

After recovering, his biggest dream is to put his back into enjoying life and being kinder to those near and dear, Sophiya said.

For solitary Sophiya, now she owes a debt of gratitude to her 32-year-old widowed sister.

She said that she is strong enough herself to brace the increasing responsibility and would be completely up to the task of being more than just a blood relative, but an actual sister and, perhaps more importantly, also a good friend. Endi