Story highlights Many Hindus and Buddhists are turning to ancient rituals and prayers; their religions have a different take on natural calamities

Those living abroad are marshaling forces to send supplies to the earthquake's victims

(CNN) Jack Tiwari, president of the America Nepal Society, begins most mornings with a short prayer to the dozen or so Hindu deities who sit atop the altar at his home in Northern Virginia. He thanks the gods for giving him another day, offers them some sweets and asks for good health and happiness.

Last Saturday, though, Tiwari was awoken at 5 a.m. by news that a massive earthquake had devastated his Himalayan homeland. For the next several hours, he frantically tried to reach his parents and extended family, who still live in Nepal, and pored through pictures on Facebook and other social media searching for hints about their fate.

Fortunately, Tiwari said, his immediate family is safe. But like thousands of Nepalese-Americans, he's still concerned about the many close friends and loved ones he left behind when he moved to the United States in 2005. As they gather funds and supplies to send abroad to the earthquake's victims, many Hindus and Buddhists, the predominant faiths in Nepal, are also turning to ancient rituals and prayers, consulting monks and temple elders and invoking divine aid to salve the vast and sharp suffering.

More than 6,000 people have died in Nepal, casualties claimed by a magnitude-7.8 earthquake and several powerful aftershocks.

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