Helping Rebuild Nepal: Morning herald Feature

Mountaineer, Neill Johanson, was guiding a group marking the centenary of Gallipoli to Everest base camp when, quite literally, the earth shook.

The Sydney architect said: “We had just finished commemorating that event when the whole world changed.”

On a similar day in 2015, Johanson was returning to nearby village Somare after a trek to Mount Everest when the first of a series of earthquakes struck. “It was ANZAC Day and we were just below base camp when the earth began to violently shake the mountains, causing the buildings around us to collapse. In an instant, we became part of a humanitarian crisis. It was only the selfless actions of the Sherpa people during the earthquake’s aftermath that enabled us to make it safely back to the Australian High Commission in Kathmandu,” Johanson shares.

Upon returning home, Johanson and his business partner Peter Wager formed a partnership with the Australian Himalayan Foundation (AHF) along with other architects and engineers. Their aim was to help the community in Garma to plan and rebuild their badly damaged school. Davenport Campbell has dedicated itself to this project ever since.