He is a simple man but so is not his will. Chairman of National Cooperative Federation of Nepal Mr Keshav Prasad Badal is a man of steely determination. He asked his son to take out motorbike when Nepal was numbed in the wake of earthquake on the night of 25th April that claimed about 9000 lives. ” There was no vehicle and no drivers and I felt uneasy so I asked my son for the help”.
First of all, he came to the newly built cooperative federation office in the night and was happy to see that no damage had occurred. But being a senior member of an important political party CPN (UML) and a member of the Constituent Assembly his mind rushed to other probable places of destruction and he came out on the street.
In one of the malls in Kathmandu where Badal reached he saw only shaken security guards there and”they were so
happy to see me coming to them riding a motorbike”, the ace cooperator of Nepal said to Indian Cooperative. Nobody was bothered and no body from the govt had come so far, the helpless guards complained.
And soon the news of the extent of damage that began to trickle in not only paralyzed Nepal but shocked the entire world community.
Giving details from a laboriously complied, list Bhadal narrated the damage suffered by cooperative societies and cooperators.” The number of cooperators who lost their lives stand today at 1007-he had the exact figure. And more than 15 hundred of them are injured. The list of dead may increase, he warned.
Details of cooperatives affected—
DETAILS OF SEISMIC DAMAGES IN COOPERATIVES
| S.No | Types of Coops | Total No of Coops | Death | Injured | Office Building |
| 1. | Savings and Credit Coops | 13368 | 280 | 0 | 293 |
| 2. | Small Farmers and Agriculture Coops | 8069 | 490 | 925 | 72 |
| 3. | Milk Producers Coops | 1732 | 0 | 0 | 108 |
| 4. | Coffee Producers Coop | 146 | 56 | 133 | 7 |
| 5. | Tea Producers Coop | 109 | 39 | 0 | 1 |
| 6. | Fruits and Vegetable Coops | 202 | 3 | 18 | 10 |
| 7. | Citrus Coops | 44 | 2 | 301 | 11 |
| 8. | Bee-Keeping Coops | 67 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9. | Information and Communication Coops | 121 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 10. | Multipurpose Coops | 4114 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| 11. | Consumer Coops | 1426 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12. | Health Coops | 92 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13. | Herbal Coops | 192 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14. | Sugarcane Coops | 47 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15. | Electricity Coops | 429 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16. | Other Coops | 1019 | 30 | 65 | 6 |
| 17 | Animal Husbandry Coops | 0 | 0 | ||
| Grand Total | 31177 | 900 | 1446 | 518 |
