Bistro Owner: 4 Houses Destroyed In Nepal Earthquake
WEST ROXBURY (CBS) - It was a busy Saturday night at the Himalayan Bistro but owner Ram Dhital has a heavy heart after learning his home country, Nepal, has been hit by a devastating earthquake.
Dhital, of Medfield, says his four houses there have been destroyed in the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that has killed more than 1,800 people and displaced tens of thousands. It was the largest earthquake in several decades.
"In my village, 80 percent of the houses (were) destroyed," he said. "I tried to call my family there (and it) took me two hours to reach (them) because the phone was busy."
Members of the local Nepalese community held an emergency meeting at the restaurant on Center Street Saturday night, according to the organization's Facebook page. They are trying to organize contributions through the Himalayan Lions Club.
"There (are) gonna be 1,600 (to) 1,700 people they found dead now so many hospitals are packed (and there is) no place to put people (who are) on the sidewalk sleeping, waiting for doctors," he said.
Boston has the fourth largest Nepalese community in the United States, with about 20,000 people. Many of them have close relatives living in the earthquake zone.
A man told WBZ-TV's Jim Smith that his first cousin's wife was killed while cooking dinner when the house collapsed. Meanwhile, his cousin is in a coma.
"It's very hard for me," he said. "Where I grew up, where I was born, those houses (are) completely (destroyed). There is no food, no water, so this is very very hard," says Nepal native Bishnu Mani Acharya.