Emergency evacuation following a 7.8 magnitude earthquake
The Healix team received a call for assistance within 30 minutes of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal. A client’s employee was stranded in Katmandu with her partner. Their accommodation had been badly damaged. The couple made their way to the airport, but everything was in chaos. They reached out to us for assistance with booking emergency accommodations as well as flights out of the area.
Challenge
The internet was down across the region and communication links were continuously breaking. It was virtually impossible to get accurate information regarding accommodations and flight availability. Once we were able to achieve communication, it became clear that every local hotel that had not sustained damaged from the earthquake was full.
Approach
The priority became booking the couple on the first flight out of Napal. A flight to Abu Dhabi was booked for the same evening, but it turned out that the booking site was not up-to-date—the flight in question had actually been cancelled. After dogged perseverance, the Healix team went above and beyond and secured available flights for the couple to Abu Dhabi. The couple arrived in Abu Dhabi, where we had booked accommodation for the night. They returned to the airport in the morning where we arranged for them to fly on home to Geneva.
Outcome
The couple was happy and grateful to get out of Nepal safely. Our team worked seamlessly together around the clock and kept everyone informed while achieving a nearly impossible task.