Kathmandu, June 1: Army Chief Gen.Prajawalla SJB Rana Friday inaugurated a U.S. army aided hospital annex in neighbouring Bhaktapur designed to withstand a quake of eight points on the Richter scale.
Thirty-four soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, C Company, 84th Engineer Battalion based in Fort Richardson, Alaska, and 30 Nepali Army engineers completed the construction in six weeks. ”
The primary goal of the mission, named ” Nightingale” has been to exchange technology and construction techniques between U.S. and Nepali militaries while continuing to strengthen the already warm bi-lateral relationship between U.S. and Nepal government and their people,” a U.S. Embassy announcement said.
The two armies and governments chose the site, a communist hotbed, for its high population density and vulnerability to earthquakes for the $100,000 effort.