Thanks so much for the feedback!
I am really sorry this took away so much of your time (I just hate losing a post in submission). Also, I hope all goes well with the new knee!
I have to be careful not to wear down my teeth too much when reading how the situation is. I really don’t know how to begin. My impression is that there are so many things aggravating the situation it’ll be a long, hard, and steep road to work up for the people there. The earthquake(s) could have been much more devastating, but still any bit of damage in Nepal goes right into the substance of what the people have to survive on, while time is not on their side. And it’ll be really hard to quickly fix anything from the outside, working through the constricted bottleneck of logistics - with the unnecessary bureaucratic issues heaped on top. All the time media interest is dwindling quickly. Perhaps you’ll find more of an open ear at UPS and FedEx than DHL (honestly, I am not surprised they weren’t very helpful). The logistics to rural Nepal are probably on par with lifting something to low earth orbit and just dropping it there. I do understand the Chinese manufacturer playing it safe. I know some people in intermodal freight and that location must be challenging on a good day - now it looks like you need a whole different set of skills and connections…
Regarding the tarpaulins - yeah I expect they are pretty frustrating to live under if you are not just doing some fair weather camping. Still, if there is enough cordage they should be better than nothing, and are relatively easy to get to the places that have an immediate need. There are many videos on how to tie them down effectively - which may help if that is not something the local know already. Of course the CGI is what you really want - but it’ll need more time I am sure.
Regarding the @hexayurt I would be interested to piggyback in case Vinay has some time to look into the matter more closely. If I know what the typical hold-ups are in detail, I can help much more effectively. Unfortunately it smells a bit like mental lethargy that they wouldn’t jump on the topic. Even if they were only up for a couple of months - there’s a good chance they’d have dragged in a lot of support (and donations) in their wake. Ah well, such is life. Small steps.
Superadobe should also work with some rocks at least. It seems to have the charm that you don’t need a very specialized workforce to get going on it either - which seems to be an advantage compared to the Holcim foundation approach (perhaps that would make more sense later in the reconstruction effort). If I can think of other things to help I’ll holler. Thanks for your detailed reply! It is much appreciated.