<img width="675" height="849" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bee754b0ad905ca02ef48jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>It was a hazy winter afternoon  when without warning at exactly 1PM, soldiers appeared on the streets of Kathmandu. Singha Darbar was cordoned off. Politicians, including Prime Minister B P Koirala who had been elected a year-and-half previously, were picked up simultaneously from their homes or offices, and hauled off to prison.   On Tuesday, 15 December it will be exactly 60 years since that fateful day which would determine the course of Nepal’s history for decades. King Mahendra and Prime Minister BP Koirala met at the palace for dinner a few days before the putsch. The King had just returned from a four-month trip to Japan, the United States and UK, and top secret plans were already in place for the coup d'état. Years later, Koirala related how towards the end of that meal, Mahendra (wearing trademark shades even though it was dark inside the room) gestured to Queen Ratna to leave and told him: “There cannot be two lions in a cage.”BP writes in his memoir that he had a ‘love hate’ relationship with Mahendra, who appreciated his work ethic, but was increasingly jealous of his popularity. The King’s aversion to political parties was well known, zamindars hated BP’s new land reform bill, and Mahendra sensed that Nehru’s India and Mao’s China, for different reasons, could live with a coup, as long as it did not make Nepal unstable.So, on पुस १, २०१७ (first day of the month of Pous 2017) the King made his move. In a speech he accused the Nepali Congress government of “failure to maintain law and order, being anti-national, corrupt and unaccountable”. The Swiss Ambassador was visiting Kathmandu from New Delhi on 15 December, and wrote a long cable to Berne about how BP Koirala had earlier talked about the difficulty of maintaining Nepal’s neutrality amidst Cold War tensions.US Ambassador Henry E Stebbins had met King Mahendra on 9 December in which he was given no hints of what he was planning, even though preparations must have been at an advanced stage. After the coup, Stebbins wrote to President Eisenhower: ‘…we feel that the King’s motives in taking the precipitate action he did were guided less by the issues of corruption and Communism than by a growing fear that his own personal position and prestige were dwindling and that if he did not act soon, it might be too late . . . the real motive behind the move was the preservation of the monarchy and the Shah dynasty in its absolute form.’However, just as Mahendra reckoned, Nepal’s two giant neighbours went along. China’s annexation of Tibet had spooked the Indians and Americans, and the British were focused on continued Gurkha recruitment. In fact, Queen Elizabeth was in Kathmandu on a royal visit within two months of the coup, and even went tiger hunting in Chitwan. History repeats itself repeatedly in Nepal. In 2005, King Gyanendra staged a carbon copy royal-military coup. Like his father and Stebbins, Gyanendra hoodwinked British Ambassador Keith Bloomfield into thinking that a coup was the last thing on his mind. Gyanendra’s speech on 1 February 2005 was identical to Mahendra’s in 1960. The son followed his father’s footsteps. On the 60th anniversary of पुस १ Nepal comes another full circle as supporters of a return to a Hindu monarchy exploit the political disarray, infighting, governance failure and corruption, to march on the streets demanding the secular republican constitution be scrapped. Some of the geopolitical dynamics of the Cold War in 1960 are also playing out again as Washington and New Delhi align against Beijing. Hindutva politics  in India may also be pushing the pendulum back to the right in Nepal. Tune in to Tom Robertson's article on Nepali Times Weekend Longreads on Saturday 12 December with declassified papers with new revelations about the US response to King Mahendra's coup.

Kunda Dixit

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‘Putsch Ek’

<img width="675" height="849" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181144/636be7739c7e80680e0877ffjpeg.jpg" alt=""/>It was a hazy winter afternoon  when without warning at exactly 1PM, soldiers appeared on the streets of Kathmandu. Singha Darbar was cordoned off. Politicians, including Prime Minister B P Koirala who had been elected a year-and-half previously, were picked up simultaneously from their homes or offices, and hauled off to prison.   On Tuesday, 15 December it will be exactly 60 years since that fateful day which would determine the course of Nepal’s history for decades. King Mahendra and Prime Minister BP Koirala met at the palace for dinner a few days before the putsch. The King had just returned from a four-month trip to Japan, the United States and UK, and top secret plans were already in place for the coup d'état. Years later, Koirala related how towards the end of that meal, Mahendra (wearing trademark shades even though it was dark inside the room) gestured to Queen Ratna to leave and told him: “There cannot be two lions in a cage.”BP writes in his memoir that he had a ‘love hate’ relationship with Mahendra, who appreciated his work ethic, but was increasingly jealous of his popularity. The King’s aversion to political parties was well known, zamindars hated BP’s new land reform bill, and Mahendra sensed that Nehru’s India and Mao’s China, for different reasons, could live with a coup, as long as it did not make Nepal unstable.So, on पुस १, २०१७ (first day of the month of Pous 2017) the King made his move. In a speech he accused the Nepali Congress government of “failure to maintain law and order, being anti-national, corrupt and unaccountable”. The Swiss Ambassador was visiting Kathmandu from New Delhi on 15 December, and wrote a long cable to Berne about how BP Koirala had earlier talked about the difficulty of maintaining Nepal’s neutrality amidst Cold War tensions.US Ambassador Henry E Stebbins had met King Mahendra on 9 December in which he was given no hints of what he was planning, even though preparations must have been at an advanced stage. After the coup, Stebbins wrote to President Eisenhower: ‘…we feel that the King’s motives in taking the precipitate action he did were guided less by the issues of corruption and Communism than by a growing fear that his own personal position and prestige were dwindling and that if he did not act soon, it might be too late . . . the real motive behind the move was the preservation of the monarchy and the Shah dynasty in its absolute form.’However, just as Mahendra reckoned, Nepal’s two giant neighbours went along. China’s annexation of Tibet had spooked the Indians and Americans, and the British were focused on continued Gurkha recruitment. In fact, Queen Elizabeth was in Kathmandu on a royal visit within two months of the coup, and even went tiger hunting in Chitwan. History repeats itself repeatedly in Nepal. In 2005, King Gyanendra staged a carbon copy royal-military coup. Like his father and Stebbins, Gyanendra hoodwinked British Ambassador Keith Bloomfield into thinking that a coup was the last thing on his mind. Gyanendra’s speech on 1 February 2005 was identical to Mahendra’s in 1960. The son followed his father’s footsteps. On the 60th anniversary of पुस १ Nepal comes another full circle as supporters of a return to a Hindu monarchy exploit the political disarray, infighting, governance failure and corruption, to march on the streets demanding the secular republican constitution be scrapped. Some of the geopolitical dynamics of the Cold War in 1960 are also playing out again as Washington and New Delhi align against Beijing. Hindutva politics  in India may also be pushing the pendulum back to the right in Nepal. Tune in to Tom Robertson's article on Nepali Times Weekend Longreads on Saturday 12 December with declassified papers with new revelations about the US response to King Mahendra's coup.

<figure><img width="924" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221129121152/6385f2949c7e80680e0cc950jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Richard Morris ran the Everest Marathon on 29 May 2019 raising funds for Changing Faces the UK charity supporting people with a visible difference on their face, of which he was an active trustee.</figcaption></figure>Who would have thought it, such a nice, modest man. A quiet, measured man who would be astounded at all the fuss -- police searches, global press and media swarming around his home in the pretty Hampshire village of Bentley. A polite, gentle, professional man commuting by train to the Foreign Office, due to start in July as High Commissioner to Fiji, and until last November, British Ambassador to Nepal. On 6 May at 1030am, Richard Morris took one of his regular runs into the Alice Holt Forest, a vast woodland that spreads between Hampshire and Surrey, and never reappeared, vanished.Richard is unforgettable due to the distinctive port birthmark on his face. You could not ignore it or pretend it was not there, but the strange thing was that after the initial shock, his charm and intelligence trumped the wine stain on his cheek. You never noticed it ever again. We never talked about it, of course, but his sponsored long-distance running proceeds went to the Changing Faces charity of which he was an active trustee. <figure><img width="640" height="706" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221129121152/6385f2979c7e80680e0cc951jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The weekend after they arrived in Nepal, we invited Richard Morris and his wife Alison to the Doctor Strange shoot in the heart of the earthquake damaged Patan Durbar Square. It was early November 2015 when we first met, before he had even presented credentials, surrounded by lights, cameras, extras and all the paraphernalia of a movie set.I had arrived early and been startled to find myself standing next to the unpronounceable star of Kinky Boots, Chiwetel Ejifor at the crew’s Himalayan Java coffee stand. He smiled shyly dressed in some outlandish medieval costume, swallowed his expresso, and stooped through the durbar’s low lintel onto the set. Working with the production, we brought a few select guests to watch the shoot and be thanked by the Hollywood team -- the British Embassy had helped with handling the English stars on the Boeing charter, and a handful of ministers, generals and police chiefs without whom we could not have made it happen. The education ministry had rescheduled local exams in order to clear the palace precincts. The Americans were super-supportive of the Disney Marvel razzmatazz featuring Nepal in a blockbuster, especially so soon after the earthquake devastation. The US Ambassador was there that day, her son having secured a leading role in a crowd scene. That same heady weekend David Beckham was kicking a football around in Bhaktapur for a UNICEF documentary.The Doctor Strange logistics were complicated by blockade fuel shortages, hundreds of local actors, and police cordons sealing the Durbar Square as we had underestimated the rampant popularity of Benedict Cumberbatch. The lanky British actor turned out to have a huge fan base in Nepal, made famous as an enigmatic Sherlock in the classic television series. Ever since Benedict was first spotted in Pashupatinath, crowds had gravitated to the sets – Thamel, Indrachok, New Road, Swayambunath and now Patan. Wandering over between takes to say hello to the waiting VIPs, politely corralled in a corner of the square admiring the action, Benedict passed a flagstone where he could be glimpsed by his followers from behind the guarded barriers, resulting in a chant of admiration: “Benedict, Benedict.” He paused, took a step back, and the fans screamed their appreciation. “Ah, I’ve found the Benedict stone!” he grinned, namaste-ing Richard as we weren’t allowed to touch his tramp-like makeover.After the chaos of the shoot, I walked with Richard and Alison through the peaceful back streets of Patan, excited to see their fresh, first-time reaction to the temple shrines, concealed courtyards and hidden corners of the historic city. I showed them earthquake restoration sites and a couple of the Cosy Nepal homestays, meeting some of the innovative owners who introduced them to Newari heritage.  <figure><img width="640" height="480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221129121152/6385f29a9c7e80680e0cc952jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Richard and Alison’s tenure in Nepal was characterised by that engagement with local people at all levels, and admiration for the Valley culture. They endeared themselves to British expats by reviving the traditional Embassy carol service, even inviting us afterwards into their home for hot rum punch and mince pies. Popular with Nepalis, their wide-ranging circles included Richard’s weekend jogging, running and marathon fraternity, unusual activities for Her Majesty’s representative. Alison, quiet and capable, managed the residence, endlessly entertained, book clubbed, and was a stalwart of the Cultural Studies Group of Nepal.Richard was quick to offer help and got me out of a couple of tight spots. When our house was disrupted by post-earthquake renovation, we moved a long-standing dinner party of generous Hong Kong British philanthropists into his elegant Residence. “It will be a pleasure, Lisa, no trouble at all,” he reassured me. That evening, relishing a fine dinner served by gloved waiters off silver platters, bone china and cut glass, I raised a silent toast to Richard in thanks down the acres of the polished mahogany dining table, beneath the steely gaze of the Queen’s portrait. On another occasion I returned the favour with an arrogant English public-school principal who arrived 45 minutes late for lunch without a word of apology to His Excellency.“Would you mind popping by the office – I need a bit of advice on planning a rather important visit.” Normally we met on the pale sofas in the bay window of his home to evade the daunting security of the chancery building. This time I was relieved of my phone, hung with a guest pass, and ushered through the heavy security doors past the rogue’s gallery of former heads of mission to the inner sanctum of the ambassadorial office. Kapindra nodded me through with a smile. “It’s still a deadly secret, no one knows except the foreign ministry, but you’ve handled so many royal visits over the years at Tiger Mountain and …” Prince Harry’s <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2016/03/23/vow-to-end-child-marriage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal tour</a> was a huge success, achieving world coverage and much glory for Richard. The bearded Prince was welcomed by five virgins, toured earthquake areas, and sat cross-legged with master woodcarvers in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/mycity/2016/03/20/prince-in-patan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Patan palace</a>,  escorted by Rohit Ranjitkar of Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust and Pratima Pandey MBE of the Nepal Britain Society. Behind an unfriendly white picket fence, HRH met many of us one fine afternoon on the embassy lawn, before <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/mycity/2016/03/22/homestay-in-lamjung/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">heading to the hills</a> for some hands-on building-back-better.   <figure><img width="640" height="468" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221129121152/6385f29d9c7e80680e0cc953jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="640" height="676" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221129121152/6385f2a19c7e80680e0cc954jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Undoubtedly the most extraordinary and memorable event with Richard was one hot evening last May, the high Embassy windows spilling open onto the tented garden terrace. The New Zealand and British governments had jointly marked the 65th anniversary of climbing Mt Everest with an embassy reception on Sagarmatha Day 2018. It had been a jolly affair with an eclectic mix of government, diplomats, Gurkhas, Hillary and Tenzing Norgay family, tourism industry, mountaineers and media. The Kiwi-Brit party on 29 May 2019 to celebrate Sir Ed Hillary’s 100th birth anniversary proved to be an even more riotous affair, and another huge success. Climbers back from Himalayan peaks drank the bar dry, Rt Hon Helen Clark (former prime minister of New Zealand and former head of UNDP) was chief guest on her way back from a Himalayan Trust trek in the Khumbu, and Nims Purja was there in the midst of his seemingly impossible speed summits during his Project Possible rampage, accompanied by a lovely long-suffering wife draped in a soft yellow sari. <figure><img width="640" height="477" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221129121152/6385f2a49c7e80680e0cc955jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>But the undisputed star of that evening, exactly one year ago, was Ambassador Richard Morris, ruggedly bearded, hastily showered and just back by helicopter from completing the Everest Marathon that morning. A couple of years earlier we had choppered up to present the prizes in Namche, and Richard had thrilled the spectators by running a symbolic 8,848m. This time, he raced the entire gruelling 42km along the trail from basecamp to Namche after days of acclimatisation.  <figure><img width="960" height="720" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221129121152/6385f2a69c7e80680e0cc956jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>That same evening on the British Embassy veranda, never had any of us seen Richard so animated by achievement, flying high on pure adrenaline and total exhaustion. And that is how I like to remember our missing runner Ambassador, giving a masterly diplomatic performance, just back from Everest, tired and triumphant, and full of the joy of being alive.

Lisa Choegyal

Where is Richard Morris?

<figure><img width="1040" height="780" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912118/636b8acf9c7e80680e06b261jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>British charter company Titan Airways at Kathmandu Airport on Wednesday on the first of its two ferry flights this week. Photo: BRITISH EMBASSY</figcaption></figure>Foreign embassies in Kathmandu are flying out the last remaining of their nationals stranded in Nepal after the country went into lockdown, even as the government extended a ban on international and domestic flights till 30 April.Since international flights were stopped on 24 March, there have been 25 chartered ferry flights that flew in empty to take out 3,748 tourists and expats back to Europe, United States, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/2712912542154556/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/groups/2712912542154556/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586445209004000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHPHzHCTa7yfRL4a9XbKk5AaMD1zA">Australia</a>, New Zealand and Malaysia. On Wednesday alone, some 560 foreigners stranded in Nepal for nearly three weeks were flown out, including the first ferry flight for British nationals. Korean Air is flying to Kathmandu take South Koreans still stuck in Nepal at the end of the spring climbing season in the Himalaya.‘Glad to have helped a full flight of 250 British nationals leave today to go home on our charter. Now working on helping 250 more people get home on Friday,’ British Ambassador to Nepal <a href="https://twitter.com/NicolaPollittUK" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/NicolaPollittUK&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586445209004000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGWLXpTpK3V2R78IANutic-kwVuLw">Nicola Pollitt</a> tweeted on Wednesday. <img width="640" height="470" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912118/636b8ad19c7e80680e06b262jpeg.jpg" alt="">Embassy sources said the delay for the rescue was because British nationals were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/more-stranded-tourists-evacuated-from-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/more-stranded-tourists-evacuated-from-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586445209004000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEJpWaFzhRdFR5jUCTUIgubrLXVSQ">scattered all over Nepal</a>, and the national lockdown made it difficult to collect everyone in Kathmandu for the flights. The UK charter company Titan Airways brought a Boeing 767 to fly out the Britons via Dubai on Wednesday, and the plane is flying back on Friday to take the rest.The Netherlands Embassy flew its nationals to Kuala Lumpur last week where it had collected other Dutch nationals to join a ferry flight to Amsterdam. Malaysia sent a plane to rescue its tourists, and the Australian Embassy chartered a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-airlines-to-fly-stranded-australian-tourists-to-sydney/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-airlines-to-fly-stranded-australian-tourists-to-sydney/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586445209004000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFW-ajA_XDEEFKwIvZtgNrUYhqoOw">Nepal Airline aircraft to take 270 Australians and New Zealanders to Brisbane</a> on 1 April.Despite the ferry flights there are reports of dozens of European and American tourists who preferred to stay on in Jomsom, Pokhara, Manang and Khumbu. Local media reports quoted some of them as saying that they felt safer being in Nepal.Qatar Airways also operated another positioning flight on Wednesday with an Airbus 330 for remaining Germans and other European nationals, including Ukrainians. This was the fourth repatriation flights organised by the German Embassy since 24 March since when 800 Germans and 300 Europeans have been sent home. <figure><img width="640" height="294" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912118/636b8ad49c7e80680e06b263jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>German tourists and Embassy staff at Kathmandu Airport on Wednesday on the fourth and last repatriation flight for Europeans stranded in Nepal. Photo: GERMAN EMBASSY</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="640" height="294" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912118/636b8ad79c7e80680e06b264jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>German tourists stuck in Kathmandu for three weeks arrive at Kathmandu airport for a flight on Qatar Airways to Munich via Doha on Wednesday. Photo: GERMAN EMBASSY</figcaption></figure>More than three thousand Germans had come in the first three months of the year during the peak trekking season in Nepal. Many were full praise for the hospitality shown by hotels, restaurants, drivers and guides, and travel companies showed to them while waiting for their flights. Said German ambassador to Nepal Roland Schäfer: “I am very grateful to those who did not let my fellow Germans down. We got great cooperation from the Minister of Foreign Affairs who called me personally, and from his colleagues who were the first port of call for us.” Schäfer added that the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, Police and staff at Qatar Airways worked overtime to organise the logistics to bring the stranded tourists to Kathmandu, and open the airport for the ferry flights.He added that the Germany aid agency GIZ would have liked to bring test kits and other medical equipment needed in Nepal on the ferry flights, but it is not possible. He added: “In the current turmoil, the producer was unable to get them ready on time and bring them to Doha. GIZ will now have to procure them in China and ship them to Nepal from there.”

Tourists stranded in Nepal on last flights out

In many parts of the world, women ambassadors can face prejudice that their male counterparts do not. Women diplomats, especially those with young children, are not expected to occupy senior positions. But female envoys to Nepal take this in stride, and appreciate the importance of their presence in challenging those assumptions.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/when-garlands-are-offered-to-male-colleagues-and-not-to-the-woman-ambassador/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">When garlands are offered to male colleagues, and not to the woman ambassador</a>, Nepali Times“It is interesting to have a conversation with people before they form an opinion about me based on my role,” says British envoy Nicola Pollitt, who often introduces herself by name and does not mention her ambassadorial title. “But it’s difficult to go for long without someone asking directly what I do and they are often surprised when I tell them – particularly if I am with my two young children at the time.” <figure><img width="4032" height="3024" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101148/636b77cc9c7e80680e064659jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>British ambassador Nicola Pollitt, who speaks fluent Nepali, recently on a trip outside Kathmandu. Photo: BRITISH EMBASSY KATHMANDU</figcaption></figure>Out of 27 ambassadors currently resident in Kathmandu, seven are women: the envoys of Bangladesh, Brazil, China, the European Union, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The UN resident coordinator is also a woman.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/female-foreign-envoys-on-gender-gap,1189" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Their lady excellencies</a>, Ayesha ShakyaThe first woman ambassador to Nepal was American diplomat Carol C Laise, who held the position for seven years from 1966 to 1973, while her husband Ellsworth Bunker was the US ambassador to South Vietnam. Laise was the only female ambassador in Nepal at that time.“I’ve experienced only positive reactions, very warm and welcoming. Nepali women are very happy to see women ambassadors and are encouraged by it,” <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/it-is-now-or-never-to-devolve-power-to-local-governments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Swiss envoy to Nepal Elisabeth von Capeller</a> told Nepali Times. “For many, women ambassadors are role models.” <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101148/636b77d09c7e80680e06465ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Pollitt is the first female British ambassador to Nepal, and adds that in many countries it is easier to accept women from outside the country in positions of power than to break down the barriers to empowering women at home.She says: “Nepal is an open society and I have been welcomed here without prejudice. Many Nepalis are hopeful that as countries like the UK and others appoint female ambassadors in public-facing roles it will help promote the appointment of women in other spheres and professions. I have been pleased to find that many men are also delighted to see my appointment, and more and more are looking for ways to support and promote Nepali women.”On the occasion of International Women's Day, Pollitt is launching a <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfFRbMdTnA97cnWbTrxJy1xpAw-bohfctyT3ZVfBS2R4Sb2zg/viewform?fbclid=IwAR12d56gleGs_tfojTBgfP1JStLH4-EJK8d09t2TYeLoNgfL5v6eJAovfbo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">competition for young women</a> where the winner will have a chance to be a youth ambassador for a day.In her second term as the Swiss ambassador, von Capeller has seen significant changes in the status of Nepali women. She says: “The biggest and most positive change I see is in the younger women. Compared with the past, their self-confidence has increased substantially. Among many factors, education has certainly contributed to it.”There is a greater gender disparity in politics and diplomatic services than in other professional fields. According to the 2019 report ‘Women in Politics’ by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women, only nine countries have half or more ministerial positions occupied by women, and in only three countries are 50% or more parliamentarians women.Nepal ranked 36th in the world in percentage of women in parliament and a low 123rd in terms of women in ministerial positions. As for women in the foreign service, there has been a slow but significant increase. Three of the Government of Nepal’s current ambassadors are women: those to Oman, Japan and Israel. <img width="337" height="400" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101148/636b77d39c7e80680e06465bjpeg.jpg" alt="">For International Women’s Day on Sunday, British envoy Nicola Pollitt has a hope: “I wish women all over Nepal the courage, strength and determination to take opportunities and fulfil your potential. Without your active participation, Nepal will not fulfil its potential.”Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/GUEST-COLUMN/politics-power-women,773" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Power to women</a>, Bineeta Gurung

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Her Excellencies

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b718a9c7e80680e0600d8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="733" height="506"/><figcaption>At Jim Edwards surprise 50th birthday celebration at the British Ambassador's Kakani bungalow are Col Jimmy Roberts, Elizabeth Hawley, Uttara Crees and Lute Jerstad. Photo: Lisa Choegyal</figcaption></figure>As an egotistic control freak, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15828" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jim Edwards</a> did not like surprises. It was with bad grace that he grudgingly permitted me to arrange his 50th birthday celebration, but it drove him mad that he was not in charge of the details and kept in the dark about the lunch party location: the British Ambassador’s bungalow at Kakani.An added problem was that Jim went to great lengths to avoid any birthday, like most people who consider themselves immortal. Late one evening, warming his hands around the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/bardiya-beginnings-Lisa-Choegyal,1085" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bardia</a> campfire, I overheard him declare: “I’m never going to die! I simply can’t imagine a world without me.” In his element, Jim was hosting friends at Karnali, the steep riverbank carved by last monsoon was marked by a rough fence of fallen branches.He was deadly serious. Jim’s entire focus and massive talent was for life and living, and he had no pretension or spiritual aptitude to ponder the next world. Insisting on always being the centre of attention, life was never dull in his orbit. Jim created an infectious vortex of energy and manipulated a whirl of complex relationships.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b718c9c7e80680e0600d9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="992" height="662"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b718f9c7e80680e0600dajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1032" height="763"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>That morning, 24 November 1985, the advance guard had been sent ahead to prepare lunch in the needle-carpeted grounds of the ambassador’s historic home, nestled amidst the pines high on a ridge north of Kathmandu with an expansive view across waves of hills to the white peaks. Jim had insisted on overseeing the guest list, and the rented bus was loaded up with family, friends, and my <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/fire-in-the-afternoon-tiger-tops,846" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tiger Tops</a> and Mountain Travel colleagues.It was my task to bring Jim in his red range rover, an early extravagance and one of the first models off the Solihull assembly line, muttering and grumbling all the way up the tortuous switchbacks. By Balaju, past the reclining Vishnu in his water garden, and traversing beneath the trees of Nagarjun’s royal forest, Jim had already guessed our destination. The narrow road climbed past heaps of huge radish (mula) for which the land was renowned, today superseded by strawberries and trout. Turning right before the main road drops away to the Trisuli, we reached the Tamang village of Kakani at a refreshing altitude of 6,660 feet (2,030m), and entered the hallowed ground and clipped lawn of the British bungalow. With cheering guests waiting to surprise him, it took all Jim’s self-control to revert to his normal affability.The lunch conspiracy could not have been concocted without the collusion of the ambassador, Anthony Hurrell. Kakani was gifted to the British envoy in the nineteenth century as a country retreat by the reclusive and xenophobic <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/the-rana-reign-a-recap-of-history,3751" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruling Ranas</a>. In the exclusive purview of successive ambassadors, its use and worth over the years has waxed and waned at their personal whim.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71919c7e80680e0600dbjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1089"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71949c7e80680e0600dcjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="464"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71979c7e80680e0600ddjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="463"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>John Denson, British Ambassador 1977 to 1983, was an enthusiastic user and published much of what we know of its history. He wrote in 1984: “The sense of isolation and claustrophobia, since the Resident was confined within the Kathmandu Valley, was great and led to a request for somewhere in Nepal where he could breathe. The Maharajah (Prime Minister) agreed that a tract of land could be granted near Kakani, where our present bungalow still stands. … At one time there was a miniature golf course, and the Resident moved there for a part of the year.” As Desmond Doig noted, the fairways straddled the ridge and “must have been hell on caddies.”During their tenure 2006 to 2010, Dr Andrew Hall and his wife Kathy cherished the old bungalow, despite its discomforts, and used it regularly to impress visiting ministers and fellow diplomats. The grounds and woodland were alive with birds and butterflies, marigolds and scarlet poinsettias against a piercing blue sky. “I loved that place - Dudley Spain first took me there for a picnic in 1969, and later we spent as much time up there as we could manage: wreathed in clouds with only leeches for company in summer, stunning views but terribly cold - even with a huge log fire - in winter.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b719a9c7e80680e0600dejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="377"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b719e9c7e80680e0600dfjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="360"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71a19c7e80680e0600e0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1536"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The second British Resident, <a href="https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&amp;cx=011870630917993763279:opm7uqsat-4&amp;q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php%3Fid%3D3246&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiBu-r8gKbnAhXA8HMBHSpaBxYQFjAAegQIABAC&amp;usg=AOvVaw1I3FmzX0hV6AjhL3_irJtk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brian Houghton Hodgson</a>, living in Kathmandu from 1820 to 1843 in various roles, was first provided with a cottage at Koulia, a spot about five kilometres along the ridge north west of Kakani. There are also sketchy references in 1863 to a country house in Bhaktapur “for the use of the Residency”, but no details. When the Koulia “log cabin” was razed by lightning, it was replaced by the Kakani bungalow sometime in the mid to late 1800s - the date unknown.Lost films and forgotten diaries show the cumbersome process of reaching the Kakani outpost in those days, by horse, sedan chair and porter support. In the words of the East India Company Resident Henry Lawrence in 1845, "A lovelier spot on earth the heart of man could scarce desire," although his wife Honoria Lawrence also complained about the leeches. In corsets and stays, yesterday’s memsahibs must have been an intrepid lot.Runners were the only means of communication, later supplemented by a heliograph. This WWI device was used for signalling morse code by means of a movable mirror reflecting beams of sunlight, with direct line of sight to the residence in Lainchaur, now occupied by the Indian embassy. “I suspect that its main purpose in those heroic days was to demand extra supplies of gin!” wrote John Denson.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101120/636b71a49c7e80680e0600e1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Other than Jim’s birthday, I have been invited over the decades for various ambassadorial “picnics”, more often elaborate sit-downs served by teams of Embassy staff, but I only once spent a night, echoing with vanished footsteps. We photographed the bungalow for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-making-of-kathmandu-valley-style/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kathmandu Valley Style</a> and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/the-lyrical-life-of-Desmond-Doig,1052" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Desmond Doig</a> painted it in My Kind of Kathmandu. The Gurkhas have built a modern cottage next door, a park commemorates mountaineers killed in Nepal, and along the ridge Thai’s memorial garden overlooks the 1992 crash site, a sombre reminder of past disasters.In <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2015/05/27/a-month-that-felt-like-a-year/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2015 the earthquakes</a> destroyed the old bungalow at Kakani, and British safety regulations forced its dismemberment. The next chapter of its long history awaits to be written.

No lovelier spot than Kakani

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

India and Pakistan are twins separated at birth. Tensions between them have been at a hair trigger ever since independence and has erupted into full scale conflict at least four times in the past 80 years.
The 22 April terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed 25 Indian tourists and a Nepali citizen, threatens to escalate tension between the two nuclear-armed nations. India has squarely blamed Pakistan for the attacks, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his military “operational freedom” to respond. Pakistan has said it has credible intelligence of an Indian military strike and its officials have promised a “full spectrum” response — a code for a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/thinking-the-thinkable">nuclear retaliation</a>.
For Nepal, the killing of its national in the Pahalgam attack comes as another stark reminder that in conflicts from Afghanistan to Iraq, from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-to-agree-an-armistice-in-ukraine">Ukraine</a> to Israel, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/10-nepalis-from-one-town-fighting-in-ukraine">Nepalis are getting caught in the crossfire</a>. The last time full-scale fighting broke out between <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/peacemongers-at-india-pakistan-border">India and Pakistan</a> on Kargil in 1999, at least 22<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/india-s-trial-by-fire-for-soldiers-from-nepal?%27%5C%22="> Nepalis fighting for the Indian Army</a> were killed in action.
Three of Nepal’s immediate neighbours (China, India, Pakistan) have nuclear weapons, and they do not have good relations. With China supplying weapons, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/war-and-warming">missile technology</a> and other support to Pakistan, this triangular friction could set off a regional conflagration.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-022-00573-0" target="_blank">Research at Rutgers University</a> has calculated that even a week-long tactical nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would throw up so much smoke and debris into the atmosphere that it would block out the sun for years, and lead to a collapse of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/grow-nourish-sustain-together-world-food-day">global food system</a>. This does not take into account the radioactive fallout that prevailing winds would blow up to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lives-on-the-line-in-the-himalaya">the Himalaya</a>, contaminating glaciers that are the sources of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-what-is-left-of-himalayan-rivers">Asia’s main rivers</a>.
The impact of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">climate breakdown </a>on High Asia was already ringing alarm bells about its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/himalayan-icecap-melting-faster-than-thought">shrinking ice cap</a> reducing the dry season flow of water downstream. Water was going to be the next strategic commodity, geopolitical experts warned, and the next wars in Asia would be over water.
That water war is already happening. India retaliated to the Kashmir attack by suspending the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/world/asia/india-pakistan-indus-waters-treaty.html" target="_blank">Indus Waters Treaty</a> of 1960 mediated by the World Bank that has withstood at least three wars between India and Pakistan. The treaty gives India control over the three eastern tributaries of the Indus (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beas_River" target="_blank">Beas</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_River" target="_blank">Ravi</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutlej" target="_blank">Sutlej</a>), while Pakistan got water from the Indus and two of its western tributaries (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River" target="_blank">Indus</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenab_River" target="_blank">Chenab</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhelum_River" target="_blank">Jhelum</a>.
Pakistan was assured of 70% of the annual flow, and India could use a reasonable amount of water for<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15231"> irrigation and hydropower</a>. &nbsp;Within days of its threat, India stopped water flowing down to Pakistan from the Chenab river and is reportedly preparing to do the same on the Jhelum.
The sabre-rattling has reached a crescendo. Besides threats and counter-threats there are also symbolic drills, with the Indian Air Force practicing landing on an expressway in Uttar Pradesh by its Rafale, Su-30 and Jaguar fighter jets to demonstrate ‘operational readiness’. In response Pakistan test-fired its Abdali ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead and has a range of 450km.&nbsp;
The danger is that with ultra-nationalist rhetoric and the beating the war drums by both sides, India’s government and Pakistan’s military may have to ‘do something’ to appease domestic public opinion. But any tactical strike, an artillery exchange, or territorial incursion could quickly escalate out of control.
Expecting an Indian retaliation for the Pahalgam killings, Pakistan is using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/interfaith-collaboration-for-nuclear-disarmament"> nuclear deterrence </a>and warning of “catastrophic consequences”. The two neighbours came close to a nuclear exchange in 2019 after an attack on the Indian military in Kashmir, and prompt international intervention led by the United States cooled tensions.&nbsp;
This time, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/trump-shock-wave-hits-nepal">Trump administration</a> is too distracted and not as engaged. Pakistan has denied it was responsible for the terrorist attack and called on Washington to stop a possible Indian retaliation. India and Pakistan have stopped overflights by each other’s airlines, and some international carriers have even stopped flying over Pakistan fearing an air war.
Washington, Beijing, the UN and the EU have all urged restraint. Iran, which has good relations with both India and Pakistan has sent its foreign minister to urge both countries not to go into a tit-for-tat war. Iran has its own nuclear flashpoint to worry about with tensions in Israel, &nbsp;Yemen and Syria.
India and Pakistan both share similar problems of joblessness, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/why-nepal-s-poverty-rate-is-stuck">poverty </a>and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-change-new-threat-to-nepal-s-rhinos">environmental threats</a>. Neither side needs the threat of a senseless war, and we in the neighbourhood do not need it either.&nbsp;
Kunda Dixit
This Editorial is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.

Nukes in the neighbourhood

Most Nepalis thought they had seen the last of it after <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/11-56-25-april-2015-wkc9q2an">the 25 April 7.8 magnitude </a>earthquake ten years ago. But the Himalaya had more surprises in store. On 12 May, another 7.3 magnitude tremor that some said was an aftershock, but was strong enough to itself be a major earthquake, struck Dolakha.&nbsp; Not many people had heard of Singati till then — a cluster of houses by the Tama Kosi River along a narrow gorge that is the roadhead to Rolwaling Valley.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_57b6e316656851f71eca56ca6f98d9bbcc820c1a00d62af3c990725b4361244d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250508110520_57b6e316656851f71eca56ca6f98d9bbcc820c1a00d62af3c990725b4361244d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_016534fb2b6a79957402281cda768efb83a146786377e39e11df3e251d37159e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250508110520_016534fb2b6a79957402281cda768efb83a146786377e39e11df3e251d37159e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>  It was here that dozens were killed on 25 April in the first earthquake. Hundreds of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Singati-rising-from-rubble-rebuilding,3703">Singati survivors</a> had lined up for food and relief supplies in the morning of 12 May when the second earthquake triggered a rock slide that buried a nearby camp. At least 50 people were killed. &nbsp; Three hours later, a US Marine Corps UH-1Y Venom helicopter landed in a nearby cornfield to pick up the wounded, and flew off. The aircraft lost contact with air traffic control in Kathmandu and its wreckage was located high on Kalinchok four days later. Six American servicemen, two Nepal Army soldiers, and five wounded civilians from Singati were killed. Today, Singati bears little physical scar of the multiple tragedies that struck the town ten years ago. Most <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/bungamati-builds-back">houses have been rebuilt</a> as urban-style concrete structures, and Singati has become an economic hub on the road leading up to several hydropower plants and a<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/off-the-beaten-trek-in-nepal"> popular trekking destination</a>.&nbsp; The town looks less like a village and more like a suburb of the Dolakha district headquarter of Charikot, 47km away.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_196f341d1df1403ba133e5dfeb837eec20d7cbcb4c8c56b17cc5598810de5df2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250508110520_196f341d1df1403ba133e5dfeb837eec20d7cbcb4c8c56b17cc5598810de5df2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110524_ae66c4a92430f67db51b5e11e017059eedfbac4cb18c8e073f2a50cca1fe904e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250508110524_ae66c4a92430f67db51b5e11e017059eedfbac4cb18c8e073f2a50cca1fe904e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>  “The demand for construction material, cement, iron rods and bricks peaked after the earthquakes,” says Suresh Khadka, who owns a hardware business here and now supplies material to the 456MW Upper Tama Kosi hydropower project that is undergoing repairs after it was damaged by a landslide last year. The demand for cement boomed since most residents believe, not necessarily correctly, that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/in-a-disastrous-state">cement houses are safer</a>. Although Khadka did well selling construction material after the earthquake, he worries that most new structures do not follow seismic-resistant building codes.&nbsp; The construction boom financed by bank loans has in turn forced many from Singati to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/making-overseas-migration-better">migrate overseas for work</a> so they can service their debt.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110524_50caa4530bd5ff9120cf7ab70a62173846d337ef448ff8bac339f3faa375a9e2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250508110524_50caa4530bd5ff9120cf7ab70a62173846d337ef448ff8bac339f3faa375a9e2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Suresh Khadka</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_ef8b7d3993fc3b5df852bbf952feb3fbabc96d6883b0d5eb74ee5c60f4123b83.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250508110520_ef8b7d3993fc3b5df852bbf952feb3fbabc96d6883b0d5eb74ee5c60f4123b83" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Phu Doma Sherpa (right)</figcaption> </figure>  “My family had no choice but to borrow money to rebuild our home since the government compensation was not enough, and ten years later we are still paying off the loan,” says Phu Doma Sherpa, 60. Because of the shortage of qualified masons and proper seismic engineering, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/structural-problems">many of the buildings are of questionable building standards </a>and the traditional architecture has been abandoned, admits Kul Bahadur Budathoki, deputy chair of the municipality. “But these buildings were more expensive than what the government grants could cover, many people here are heavily in debt and the men have <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/every-day-is-closer-to-pay-day">migrated to the Gulf to pay their loans</a>,” Budathoki says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_32f89e97b7e757fc9286c0bbb671f48ea8d4468e9634fa646d7247c650ad8480.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20250508110520_32f89e97b7e757fc9286c0bbb671f48ea8d4468e9634fa646d7247c650ad8480" data-rendition-name="original" width="1501" height="1079" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Kul Bahadur Budathoki</figcaption> </figure>  Singati is in a multi-hazard zone. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Singati,3091">12 May 2015 earthquake </a>could have led to the collapse of Nepal’s largest glacial lake, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/stairway-to-heaven">Tso Rolpa</a>, upstream. Due to global warming, the glacier has turned into an expanding lake 3.5km long, and its collapse would have unleashed a catastrophic Himalayan tsunami down the Tama Kosi Valley, with Singati directly in its path. Singati has literally risen from the ashes of 2015, with its residents beginning to recover from the trauma and financial toll. But it is not out of danger as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">climate breakdown </a>magnifies the risk from future earthquakes.

Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village

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Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village

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