KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Aid crews here in Kansas City are making plans to go to Nepal to assist with relief efforts in the wake of Saturday’s deadly earthquake.
Kansas City-based Heart to Heart International says that they are sending a team to the region on Monday.
Jim Mitchum, CEO of Heart to Heart International, said he read headlines on Saturday morning that prompted action.
“I got up at about 6:15 on Saturday morning, I opened up the New York Times on my iPad, saw the disaster, spent about 30 seconds thinking about it, and realized, we have to go,” said Mitchum. “This is an organization that goes where it needs to go and responds the way it needs to respond.”
Mitchum says that the non-profit is sending what they call an advanced team of three people to Nepal.
“It’s very difficult to fly airlines right now that are flying into Kathmandu,” said Mitchum.
Nearly 2,500 are dead and almost 6,000 more hurt following Saturday’s earthquake which has triggered aftershocks that are still rocking the city on Sunday.
“It’s an amazingly difficult thing because here you have an earthquake and in an earthquake setting, most of your structures are damaged, dangerous or destroyed,” said Mitchum.
Still, a doctor, nurse and a Heart to Heart International staff member are flying with boxes loaded with medical supplies to the Asian country to treat the wounded and await the arrival of more medical personnel.
Dr. Gary Morsch, M.D. founded the non-profit decades ago, and has lead many disaster response teams.
“Part of it is just being prepared mentally but also being experienced,” said Morsch. “You don’t have everything you need. You might have a flashlight you have to use. You might not have all the sterile water and supplies you need. You might have insects flying around. It may be very hot. It may be cold. It may be unsafe.”
Those he says are secondary factors that won’t keep him from going.
“I’m still a volunteer. I want to do my part,” said Morsch. “I told my wife this morning, ‘It may not be convenient to drop everything and go to Nepal. This is what I believe in. This is what Heart to Heart does. And I’m going to stand up and say I’ll go. And so if I’m needed, I’ll be the first one on the plane.’”
For more information about Heart to Heart International, click here.
