Hong Kong Red Cross worker's holiday puts her in the middle of Nepal earthquake disaster
Lalita Gurung has worked for a decade on relief operations and now finds herself close to the epicentre of the biggest quake in decades in her family's homeland
As a veteran Red Cross relief worker, Hongkonger Lalita Gurung could hardly have imagined that a trip to her ancestral homeland of Nepal would see her experience the country’s worst earthquake in 81 year.
Gurung, who is in her 30s, is an international relief service officer for the Hong Kong branch of the international humanitarian organisation. She was visiting family in Pokhara, close to the epicentre of Saturday’s 7.9-magnitude quake in Gorkha district.
She has since been in touch with her colleagues to confirm she is safe, said Betty Lau Ping of the Hong Kong Red Cross. Gurung briefly lost contact with her family and their home in the city sustatined minor damage, but she moved quickly to offer her services to the relief effort.
“She could join the relief operation right after she settled her personal issues,” Lau said. “This is a display of the spirit of a mission-driven relief worker.”
She is now working with the Nepal Red Cross Society’s Gorkha branch to conduct need assessment and distribute relief items.
Born in Hong Kong, Gurung, who is married with no children, studied law in Sri Lanka, then did administrative work in the private sector before joining the Red Cross in the city in 2005.