Devastation. Destruction. It’s very evident that there was an earthquake here. Buildings collapsed. Rubble everywhere. Tent cities. UN vehicles.
I remember walking through Mostar in Bosnia and there were plaque saying “don’t forget” . Pictures of the famous bridge in that once beautiful city being bombed. The words were etched everywhere.
This city I now am being driven around by our driver Robert bears a testimony that the past 7 months, post earthquake, are part of the fabric of the economy, part of its day-to-day. Many people lost a lot: their homes, their loved ones, their stability. The earth was taken from beneath them in many ways. I don’t know what the city was like 8 months ago before the disaster but now I see business as usual around me. But with demolished buildings everywhere, tents in the street and piles of rubble everywhere.
Audio Clip Standing outside the palace
This is the most devasted area from the earthquake, whilst not the epicentre. But its buildings that kill people during earthquakes and with a population of 9.8 million.
This will be our base for the next two and a half days. We have 6 meetings and visit into a slum before we fly up north to visit another project.
Our goal here to glean as much learning that we can from the NGOs, UN, Banks, Government as we can about how we can move forward the dialogue between business & NGO coloration to help the planet’s problems.
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