A 10-Year-Old Makes A Video So We 'Don't Forget Nepal'

A 10-Year-Old's View Of The Quake Devastation

Source: NPR

Credit: Lucas Zutt and Donatella Lorch for NPR

Like mother, like son.

Lucas Zutt is the 10-year-old son of journalist Donatella Lorch, who frequently contributes to Goats and Soda. They've lived in Kathmandu since June 2013.

Lucas shared his impressions of the earthquake with NPR after it struck. And now he's made a video.

"My mum has told me that the news stays on a country for only a short time," he says. And he's worried that "the world news is forgetting Nepal."

So Lucas used his mother's iPhone to show the earthquake scenes that have had an impact on him. Some of the video was shot in Kathmandu. Some parts show scenes from the village of Kot Danda, about 9 miles away. That's where the family's driver, Keshav Thapa Magar, lives.

"They haven't gotten any help," he says about the people in Kot Danda. "Seventy-six houses have collapsed. People are living in greenhouses or just under any sort of covering — a tarp, a sheet of iron. I want them to have proper shelter."

Lucas is especially worried because the monsoon season starts in a few weeks; rains have already begun. "You get wet all the time," he says. "It is miserable."

Lucas loves Nepal. "It's my home, and I don't want to leave," he says. "This is where I belong."

But the earthquake has definitely changed things. "Outside Kathmandu Valley, there is nothing but destruction. It makes me really sad," he says. "Earthquakes are scary as can be. I am scared of standing near leaning buildings. When night comes I worry about other earthquakes."

Lucas hopes his video "goes a long way and sends its message out clear: Don't forget Nepal."