WICKER PARK — Nepalese landscape paintings adorn the walls of Wicker Park's Cumin restaurant, where the owners and most of the employees hail from the South Asia country wracked by a massive earthquake over the weekend.
"I am worried about the situation in all of Nepal, not just my own family," said Murari Shrestha, a waiter who moved to Wicker Park from Nepal four years ago.
Shrestha has three sisters and one brother who live in Katmandu, the nation's capital about 50 miles northwest from the epicenter of the massive quake which has claimed over 4,400 lives and also set off avalanches on Mt. Everest, killing 17 climbers.
"They are all okay and called as soon as it happened. It is still not safe because of aftershocks. We are talking at least two times every day. They have no electricity, water or Internet," Shrestha said of his siblings.
Murari Shrestha, a waiter at Cumin. [DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser]
Cumin's co-owner Rajesh Karmacharya, who managed an Indian restaurant on the North Shore for over a decade before opening his own spot with his brother, Sanjeev, almost five years ago, posted about the disaster on the restaurant's Facebook page.
"A very profound moment for the mankind; a time when the whole world comes together," he wrote. "A devastating earthquake rocked our tiny nation of Nepal around noon local time on April 25th, Saturday. The vastness of the rubbles and cries of agony and fear permeate through our entire being, shaking the core of any rational belief or faith."
At Cumin, people can sign a guest book that will be sent to Nepal, as well as put money, cash and checks into a donation box that will be added to relief efforts organized by Chicago Nepali Friendship Society, 5841 N. Winthrop Ave.
In addition to popping by Cumin, 1414 N. Milwaukee Ave., those who want to help Nepalese citizens affected by the disaster can do so through the Nepali American Center's website, or on the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago's website.
Cumin, billed as a modern Nepalese restaurant, offers dishes cooked with fewer dairy products than most traditional Indian food, Karmacharya told the Chicago Pipeline in 2010.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
