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Quake survivors migrate for work

<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/deadly-earthquake-hits-w-nepal">Three months after the earthquake in western Nepal</a>, with late winter snow dusting &nbsp;surrounding peaks, survivors are grappling with the harsh reality of rebuilding their lives.&nbsp; Despite the still visible devastation all around, there is a strong community spirit that has helped the people of what were already Nepal’s most underserved districts get on with their lives.&nbsp; “I heard my mother screaming for help outside, and after some time, the people rescued me,” recalls 7-year-old Manju, who was trapped under the rubble of her mud home in Rawat Gaun.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024020915028_c2a48ce30cae9ffc0977107ef516c41c4448cb08aa1ec5eb2568987cb928cbff.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024020915028_c2a48ce30cae9ffc0977107ef516c41c4448cb08aa1ec5eb2568987cb928cbff" data-rendition-name="original" width="756" height="512" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot"> </figure>  Although grateful that she survived, Manju is still traumatised and is haunted by all the relatives and friends who did not make it on the night of 3 November — including four children and their parents in a neighbouring house.&nbsp; Rawat Gaun still resembles a battlefield, the houses are flattened as if they were bombed. Damaged buildings stand amidst heaps of rubble that have not yet been cleared. Families spent winter in flimsy tents, tarp and tin sheets supported by tree trunks and rocks.&nbsp; The destruction here is worse than in the villages of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/jajarkot-survivors-show-collective-resilience">Barekot Rural Municipality</a>, the epicentre of the 6.8 magnitude earthquake.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024020915024_b1bd2b051951972802ae87ae296b39578f279764745c5a14122dbb64cba35292.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024020915024_b1bd2b051951972802ae87ae296b39578f279764745c5a14122dbb64cba35292" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1071" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot"> <figcaption>The sun has come out in Ramidanda village near the epicentre after last week's snowfall that revived the wheat crop after a long winter drought. </figcaption> </figure>  Even before the quake, there were mostly the elderly, women, and children here. The young men and adults had migrated to the cities or to India. Most of the dead and wounded were women, and half of the 153 killed were children buried under collapsed houses. “Without the children who survived, we would have felt even more bereaved,” says Bali BK, 60, whose son and daughter-in-law are working in the city. “Hearing their laughter and seeing them play gives us joy and hope." &nbsp; Nearby, Manju is playing in the dirt with her friends, Sashila and Sumnima, aged 7 and 9, as Bali looks on from the tent in which she has been living alone since the earthquake. The children sing a ditty they composed about the earthquake. This creases up Bali’s face as she smiles. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/learning-from-jajarkot-what-we-didnt-after-2015-695vpzle">Learning from Jajarkot what we didn't after 2015</a>, Sushil Gyewali  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240209150212_3582ce435a202d5e280ce607dbaacc35e27750075681fb3222e214829291c673.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20240209150212_3582ce435a202d5e280ce607dbaacc35e27750075681fb3222e214829291c673" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="844" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot"> <figcaption>Mani and Maya are all smiles, and remain close friends. The disaster has brought the community together.</figcaption> </figure>  “One positive outcome from this earthquake is that many people now know the names of our villages, and outsiders have come to help us with warm clothes, food, and medicine,” says Mani Damai, another elderly resident.&nbsp; That is not to say life is easy, hardships are compounded by the current cold wave, and the tents offer little protection from the rain and wind.&nbsp; Nights in the tents are especially difficult for the many pregnant women, and lactating mothers with newborn babies. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/below-zero-at-ground-zero">Below zero at ground zero</a>, Durga Rana Magar  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240209150212_4ae32e273e968bbb30d4d364bdebc897d28a43ba1cd3a60f3d1b4c5562ba4345.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20240209150212_4ae32e273e968bbb30d4d364bdebc897d28a43ba1cd3a60f3d1b4c5562ba4345" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot"> <figcaption>Young mother Manisha with her baby and her new water tank donated by relief agencies.(Photo: NARESH NEWAR)nareshnewar</figcaption> </figure>  “The health of expecting mothers is a big concern,” says Surya Bhatta of One Heart Worldwide. “They urgently require suitable living conditions, &nbsp;healthcare and nourishment for their well-being.”&nbsp; The German Embassy has helped One Heart distribute tents, equipment, winterisation kits, blankets, and hygiene equipment for pregnant and lactating mothers, and babies.&nbsp; The earthquake dealt a severe blow to the already fragile and inadequate health system in Jajarkot with 40 health posts damaged, including birthing centers. Access to quality medical care was a concern even before the earthquake, now it is even more critical. “Talking to local residents, municipalities and officials, we have gained valuable insight into the challenges ahead,” says Sabrina Schmidt Koschella of the German Embassy in Kathmandu. “The scale of destruction underscores the urgent need for continued support from the international community for recovery and rebuilding.” Ramidanda Health Post chief Bishnu Raj Jyoti and his team managed to save many lives on 3 November and the next day. Nurses and the health team treated many injured people and those with other illnesses.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/poverty-killed-a-mother-not-the-quake">Poverty killed the mother, not the quake</a>, Marty Logan “There were a lot of injured and sick among the 400 families in this ward, and we managed to rush those with serious injuries to hospital in Surkhet by helicopter in the days that followed the disaster,” Jyoti recalls. The local government and security units as well as the Jajarkot District Administration Office played a pivotal role in disaster management. Despite losing his office, CDO Suresh Sunar continues to direct relief efforts from his prefab box to the survivors. &nbsp; “We had learnt a lot about disaster management from the 2015 earthquake, and knew that we had to help the thousands of homeless survivors,” Sunar says. Although the government’s one-window system for relief through the DAO got bad press initially for creating bottlenecks, it has now ensured better coordination between donors, agencies, the private sector and volunteers.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240209150212_3c635ea2a6a25c325c73e1ba6dbc85b318c9ea87bd5c1d542f658a0296993db2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20240209150212_3c635ea2a6a25c325c73e1ba6dbc85b318c9ea87bd5c1d542f658a0296993db2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot"> <figcaption>District administration staff in tents help local communities with lost documentation. (Photo: NARESH NEWAR)nareshnewar</figcaption> </figure>  The DAO's prefab 'office' is often crowded with people from all over the district applying for lost citizenship papers, National Identity Cards, travel permits, and other vital documentation.&nbsp; Despite the adversity, there are stories of hope. Maya was six months pregnant during the earthquake, and recalls the panic as she escaped through narrow stairs from the second floor of her house. Now in her ninth month, she hopes for a safe delivery at the Ramidanda health facility in Barekot. “I feel lucky that we are safe, but it has been a difficult three months in the cold,” Maya says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240209150216_b70a0e133d2507eb82a6106cf8d46f7c7e54ebc164a41cec8c95fc70b5c27d98.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20240209150216_b70a0e133d2507eb82a6106cf8d46f7c7e54ebc164a41cec8c95fc70b5c27d98" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot"> <figcaption>The heavily damaged police station is still flying the flag as it awaits repairs.</figcaption> </figure>  The birthing centre where Maya will be delivering lacks equipment, the maternity room does not even have a proper delivery bed but the nurses are doing their best to provide safe motherhood.&nbsp; “The disaster is also an opportunity for visitors to see the reality of life here, and how hard it was even before the earthquake,” says Hem Bahadur Giri, Ward-1 Chair of Barekot. “But because of the earthquake, at least we have help to improve our health system.” Manisha is a young mother with three children and says she has never seen so many strangers in her village before. She is happy they are all there to help with warm clothes. “Life here was always difficult, we are far from the city and hardly anyone ever came here, but now there are all these people who have come to help,” she says. “We have blankets and drinking water tanks, which we never had before.”

Rebirth and rebuilding in the ruins

In Chuiri village, Hasta Bahadur Kami, 62, stays on the roof of his damaged house to escape recent rains. He spends nights lighting fires and endures the scorching sun during the day on the roof of the same earthquake-damaged house.&nbsp; Kami lost his father and grandson who were trapped in the collapsing house. He single-handedly struggled to clear the debris with his bare hands but could not get to them in time. Every structure in Chuiri succumbed to the quake's force. &nbsp;“Water can quench thirst, but a lost life can never be restored,” says a tearful Kami, his grief still raw more than two months after the quake on 3 November. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/jajarkot-survivors-show-collective-resilience">Jajarkot survivors show collective resilience</a>, Durga Rana Magar With loans from relatives, aid from the community and Rs 15,000 from the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) he paid for their funerals. But he still has unpaid loans. Similarly, Kali Pun, 73, from Pali village has survived on meagre provisions while caring for her grandson amidst the ruins of her house. The village council provided some food, but what helped at that crucial time was the WFP cash grant which she used to buy medicine for herself and process her grandson’s citizenship papers.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240110060136_5ecff9c1a5204e3421a920caa14ba60e4159343fcc659ffcd5f0ab2db5bdf4b1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240110060136_5ecff9c1a5204e3421a920caa14ba60e4159343fcc659ffcd5f0ab2db5bdf4b1" data-rendition-name="original" width="6000" height="4000" loading="lazy" alt="Aid to earthquake survivors NT"> <figcaption>Kali Pun.</figcaption> </figure>  Ganesh Pun, 58, lost 47 of his 50 goats in the earthquake. Today he sits listlessly in the sun, with no more goats left to graze and his source of livelihood gone. Pali was once known as a rich farming village, but the earthquake exacted a heavy toll on livestock. According to the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture, and Cooperatives of Karnali Province, 513 cows, goats, buffalos were killed.&nbsp; The Ministry Secretary, Narahari Prasad Ghimire, has submitted a proposal worth Rs9,974,000 to the cabinet for providing relief support to farmers affected by the earthquake. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/poverty-killed-a-mother-not-the-quake">Poverty killed a mother, not the quake</a>, Marty Logan The WFP grant may not seem like much compared to the scale of the loss, but at least it helped the farmers get through the emergency. Pun says the money was a significant help. “If we had more money, we could have bought goats,” he adds.&nbsp; Dambar Bahadur Rawat, Mayor of Nalgad Municipality says the immediate cash relief was helpful where there are markets. “People can buy necessary items themselves, practical cash support is viable,” he says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240110060136_8ca80b068105d4c9db7f098d693e40c5f5c3e4907ad7a4531fbd395d1f25a8eb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240110060136_8ca80b068105d4c9db7f098d693e40c5f5c3e4907ad7a4531fbd395d1f25a8eb" data-rendition-name="original" width="5237" height="3615" loading="lazy" alt="Aid to earthquake survivors NT"> <figcaption>Ganesh Pun.</figcaption> </figure>  According to Dhurba Bahadur Khadka, the spokesperson of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, immediate cash relief can be effective in times of disaster.&nbsp; “For such multiple disaster-prone areas, two types of immediate relief can work, one for rescue and search-related equipment used during disasters and another for the immediate rescue needed during such times,” he says. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/jajarkot-one-month-after-the-earthquake">Jajarkot: One month after the earthquake</a>, Ramu Kharel and Maggie Doyne Khadka also notes that immediate aid should include essential medicine and food for children, pregnant women, and individuals with chronic illnesses. Additional food and tarps would be part of the second phase of assistance. He says that in disaster-prone areas where market systems and geography allow, providing cash aid is better than material help because of the danger of duplication and wastage.&nbsp; “Transparency and a person's right and need to receive support make cash relief ideal,” Khadka says, noting that the municipality also provided rice, pulses, in relief. “Cash allows individuals to buy what they require.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/below-zero-at-ground-zero">Below zero at Ground Zero</a>, Durga Rana magar

Cash in hand for quake victims

Life was already difficult for the people of the Karnali because of state neglect, failing agriculture, joblessness and out-migration. The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/deadly-earthquake-hits-w-nepal">earthquake two months ago</a> just made everything more arduous. The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mass-cremations-for-nepal-quake-victims">6.4 magnitude earthquake</a> shook the region just before midnight, killing at least 153 people and destroying 62,000 houses in 11 districts of western Nepal. Familiar with slow delivery of government services, most surviving families have taken matters into their own hands to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/below-zero-at-ground-zero">get through the bitter winter</a> and to rebuild their lives and livelihoods. Dhan Bahadur Gharti, 55, had recently returned to Sirpachaur in Jajarkot after a year working in Kashmir, and had plans to renovate his house for Dasain. But the earthquake destroyed his house before he could repair it. "There's nothing left," Dhan Bahadur says, peering from inside his tent.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024010811014_0790bab9d5f0012d1edbb7cded438aafe350b028928052709c4f0775b7580364.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024010811014_0790bab9d5f0012d1edbb7cded438aafe350b028928052709c4f0775b7580364" data-rendition-name="original" width="1800" height="1163" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot earthquake"> <figcaption>Dhan Bahadur Gharti</figcaption> </figure>  The unexpected destruction left his plans in disarray, but there was an immediate need to provide a warm shelter and hot food for his three children.&nbsp; He has some savings from his seasonal work in India, but after he builds a temporary house with the government reconstruction grant Dhan Bahadur expects he will have to go to India to earn more money to complete the rebuilding. Jasbir Thapa, 45, also returned from Kashmir for the Dasain holidays only to have witnessed first hand the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-quake-survivors-wait-for-kin-to-return">devastation caused by the earthquake</a>. The government's delayed aid and one-window policy compounded his worries, leaving him torn between family responsibilities and the need to migrate again to India for work to earn money.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024010811018_d09b9d75bf7b81b340ef956a0d0cd8ca09a6386a28aacced3deeaf7fd10b20f6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024010811018_d09b9d75bf7b81b340ef956a0d0cd8ca09a6386a28aacced3deeaf7fd10b20f6" data-rendition-name="original" width="2620" height="2000" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot earthquake"> <figcaption>Jasbir Thapa</figcaption> </figure>  Even after two months, the initial instalment of the Rs50,000 grant for temporary housing from Kathmandu has not reached Sirpachaur. Without jobs and earnings in Nepal, just about every one of the 150 households in Sirpachaur has at least one member working in India. It is hard manual work, and the pay is not good. Still it is more than they can hope for back home in Nepal.&nbsp; "It's the same for everyone, survival is not possible in Nepal," says Thapa, “but working in India the pay is not proportional to the hard manual work we do.” Despite the mountain of hardship on which the earthquake has heaped another layer of misery, there is a sense of community and a collective resilience with neighbours helping each other with the little they have. Villages like Chiuari in Nalgad Municipality, have come together to construct each others’ temporary shelters. They are not waiting for the first instalment of Rs25,000 to come through, but use local material and volunteer labour to help rebuild. Prasad Biswokarma got support from his fellow villagers, to erect a temporary shelter where at least his family would be protected from the bitter cold. He and the whole village are now bracing for rain and snow that is forecast for western Nepal next week.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024010811018_e6f1421cd857f98fa152774124218332772bbc46df8a0dcb5ef82163a3308cd9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2024010811018_e6f1421cd857f98fa152774124218332772bbc46df8a0dcb5ef82163a3308cd9" data-rendition-name="original" width="6000" height="4000" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot earthquake"> <figcaption>Neighbours have come together to build temporary shelters for each other, they are not waiting for the first instalment of Rs25,000 to come through.</figcaption> </figure>  The collective struggle for recovery extends to sharing food, blankets, firewood and other essentials. Harikala Rokaya from Pali village has been waiting for government assistance, and help from charities but it never got to where she lives, off the road. With winter setting in and aid absent, she has built her own temporary shelter from salvaged bricks and timber.&nbsp; Mayor Dammar Bahadur Raut of Nalgad Municipality admits that there is a delay in aid distribution, attributing it to bureaucratic hurdles. The allocation of reconstruction grants for temporary shelters from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority has been marred by procedural delays mainly due to lack of coordination between various levels of government. The delay is affecting 50,000 families. In Sirpachaur too villagers have been contributing voluntary labour for fellow survivors to rebuild. Local activists, and civil society organisations have also joined hands to help the villagers.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024010811018_a61bfa514e0dec0bd7d722742a4264c0a19e443d88f11246ce4ce2656dd6acbb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="2024010811018_a61bfa514e0dec0bd7d722742a4264c0a19e443d88f11246ce4ce2656dd6acbb" data-rendition-name="original" width="6000" height="4000" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot earthquake"> <figcaption>Temporary shelters in Sirpachaur.</figcaption> </figure>  “The bureaucratic delay in aid disbursement is testing the will and endurance of the affected families, and we have seen exemplary support by community-driven initiatives in this critical time of crisis,” Mayor Raut adds. Ward Chair Bir Bahadur Giri says migration to India is a safety valve, but says it also means that the men folk are away when there is reconstruction work to be done at home. Although many men who had returned for the Dasain festival and were at home when the earthquake struck will probably be staying a bit longer, sooner or later they will be going back to India.&nbsp; With the men mostly away, there are mostly women, children and the elderly left in the earthquake-ravaged villages of Jajarkot and West Rukum. Many of the children are still traumatised by the destruction of the earthquake and the loss of family memories.&nbsp; In one temporary shelter in Sirpachaur, 12-year-old Pashupati Gharti is a Grade 5 student, and still has visible signs of anxiety in his face when he remembers that fateful night. He tries his best with two elder sisters to help his family inside their tarp-roofed shelter.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024010811018_a0c8db81c646d084398671ebb96362ea758e020360887b559184c2b696d19e95.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2024010811018_a0c8db81c646d084398671ebb96362ea758e020360887b559184c2b696d19e95" data-rendition-name="original" width="3000" height="2000" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot earthquake"> <figcaption>Pashupati Gharti</figcaption> </figure>  "I wonder when our house will be rebuilt," he says staring listlessly into the distance, and to no one in particular. In the aftermath of the earthquake, the boy would have nightmares and missed many days of school. But time heals, and Pashupati is now determined to help with household work in the morning and go to school in the afternoon. There is not a single house intact in this village, rubble still lies in piles on streets where children play Seven Stones trying to hit a pile of stones. For the headmaster of the local school, this is a hopeful sign that the children are starting to play again as their lives return to a semblance of normalcy. The school building in Chiuri village is also damaged, and classes are held in tents or outdoors under the sun. It was fortunate that the earthquake struck at night, otherwise there may have been many casualties among students when either classrooms collapsed.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024010811018_907ea0440af59be75892f398f660893e219ee810dbe29c69db6b3d30d7742a67.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="2024010811018_907ea0440af59be75892f398f660893e219ee810dbe29c69db6b3d30d7742a67" data-rendition-name="original" width="800" height="533" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot earthquake"> <figcaption>Classes are being held outdoors under the sun in quake affected villages.</figcaption> </figure>  The earthquake claimed the lives of 13 children in Chiuri village alone. Of the 36 killed in Rukum West, 19 were children. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/demographics-of-disaster-in-nepal-quake">Eighty-one children were among the 153 killed on 3 November</a> — more than half the fatalities. Most of the adults killed were women. Twenty-three of the children who survived lost both parents, and measures are being taken for their protection and care. Efforts are underway to provide counselling for affected children. Child Welfare Officer Pradeep Rawal says some parentless children sheltered in orphanages require more time to recover.&nbsp; In Aathbis Kot Municipality of Rukum West which saw a heavy loss of life among children, counselling is being provided to children even though schools are closed for winter holidays. Temporary school construction is underway in Jajarkot and Rukum West, where the current buildings lack proper classrooms due to building safety concerns. In certain areas, parental involvement in building temporary shelters has facilitated continued education for children. Parents' collaboration, aided by outside support, means wooden shelters have come up in some locations to ensure children have space for learning. At Himalaya Devi Basic School in Sirpachaur, parental support helps temporary management, and there is now room for 150 students when schools reopen. Mayor Raut is happy parents themselves are helping to put up temporary classrooms.

Jajarkot survivors show collective resilience

Like any mother, Sharmila Chadara just wanted to get home to see her child. It was this primal urge, and other unrelated factors, that directly resulted in her death on the night of 24 November. It was easy for journalists to assume that she had died from ‘the cold’ following the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/deadly-earthquake-hits-w-nepal">earthquake on the night of 3 November</a> that killed 150 people outright in Jajarkot and Rukum West. Many of Sharmila’s neighbours in Ward 4 of Nalgad Rural Municipality and the surrounding mountains were forced to sleep outdoors after their houses collapsed.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240102150116_b6edcb6e1b6f52540dfdbc84bdbc23a1701dc9b1f113b7d5da30cf7f8e277898.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240102150116_b6edcb6e1b6f52540dfdbc84bdbc23a1701dc9b1f113b7d5da30cf7f8e277898" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="Jajrkot earthquake"> <figcaption>Damaged homes in Nalgad, Ward 1. Many locals are living in tents, below. All photos: MARTY LOGAN</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240102150116_d992b10f8725c5d0415191b0606b33f23c2cff8941e495199a2cea5528542da6.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240102150116_d992b10f8725c5d0415191b0606b33f23c2cff8941e495199a2cea5528542da6" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot earthquake"> <figcaption>Tents in Nalgad Municipality, Ward 1, Jajarkot. Occupants had their houses destroyed or damaged in the November 3 earthquake.</figcaption> </figure>  A local politician was quoted saying that Sharmila had become the latest post-earthquake victim because she was sleeping under a flimsy plastic sheet as night temperatures dropped. The <a href="https://annapurnapost.com/story/447108/">news was picked up by the media</a>, and there was outrage across the country. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/jajarkot-one-month-after-the-earthquake">Jajarkot: One month after the earthquake</a>, Ramu Kharel and Maggie Doyne Had she survived, Sharmila Chadara would probably be sleeping inside the tiny home of her husband Dinesh in Nalgad located down a dusty path, a 15-minute walk from a narrow road. It was damaged but is habitable.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240102150116_1e7562050e0b55135f28e96726d6a003c699dbf02214b3849c38e64540b7cfd8.png" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20240102150116_1e7562050e0b55135f28e96726d6a003c699dbf02214b3849c38e64540b7cfd8" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot earthquake"> <figcaption>The home where Sharmila Chadara lived in Nalgad Municipality. It was damaged in the earthquake but is still habitable.</figcaption> </figure>  Dinesh, 26, sheltered from the sun against the house as he told us about Sharmila’s final trip home. It was on Dasain Tika day in early November when Sharmila felt labour pains and they took a vehicle down to the local hospital.&nbsp; There were no doctors and the couple was advised to go to the hospital in Khalanga, where doctors in turn referred them to Surkhet. Sharmila had twins and it would be a risky delivery.&nbsp; In Surkhet, she delivered the first baby, a girl. The boy was born lifeless. The doctors advised them to keep the girl in the hospital so she would gain weight. After five days, staff noticed that Sharmila, who till then seemed healthy, developed a cough. They diagnosed severe pneumonia and put her in the ICU. But fluid built up in Sharmila’s lungs and she underwent dialysis, recalled Sakuntala Sapkota, the matron at the Surkhet hospital. “She had many ups and downs,” Sapkota told me. Sharmila had five dialysis treatments as she was shuttled back and forth between ICU and the general ward. At one point a doctor told Dinesh and relatives they might not be able to save Sharmila because her body was “completely infected”. After nearly three weeks, Sharmila had enough. She was missing her son and wanted to return to Jajarkot. But staff urged her to stay two more weeks until she was fully recovered. In Ladakh Three years earlier, Sharmila had travelled to Ladakh where Dinesh was working, as were her own parents. It is normal for at least one member of each household in Jajarkot and surrounding districts to migrate for work in India and beyond. Increasingly, many are taking illegal routes destined for the US. In Athbiskot Municipality we met one woman whose brother had been gone a year, and had only made it to Turkey after paying traffickers Rs10 million.&nbsp; Sharmila stayed and worked alongside her husband at a cement factory in Ladakh, returning for the first time this past Dasain. Dinesh remembers her falling ill in India and coughing up blood. A local doctor diagnosed it as ‘weakness’ and gave her medicine.&nbsp; “But she didn’t finish it,” her husband told us. “She never finished medicine, even vitamins. I don’t know why she was like that.” A neighbour remembers Sharmila as being honest and friendly. She did not like working in Ladakh, she added, but the pressure to earn money must have been strong. At the hospital in Surkhet, Sharmila threatened to pull out her IV drip, remove her oxygen mask, and die in her hospital bed if she was not taken home. Dinesh relented and booked an ambulance for the family’s return trip to Nalgad. The oxygen ran out on the way. “I was not even sure if she was breathing,” he recalled. When they reached the hospital emergency in Radi Bazar at 2AM her vital signs were nil, staff told him. Sharmila had died. Dinesh wanted to take her home. He hired a vehicle to carry her to the foot of the hill and rounded up people in the dead of night to carry her on a stretcher, reaching home at 4AM. Sharmila was finally reunited with her son.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240102150120_2713c13b4d2ba22fe28bc1bf96cfbcfd87a7ede9cc67678b67d69efbe4a4d851.png" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240102150120_2713c13b4d2ba22fe28bc1bf96cfbcfd87a7ede9cc67678b67d69efbe4a4d851" data-rendition-name="original" width="1125" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot earthquake"> <figcaption>Dinesh Chadara with his son Ganesh at home in Nalgad Municipality recently.</figcaption> </figure>  Dinesh told us he has not made up his mind about returning to work in India. His in-laws have given him Rs150,000 to pay medical bills and he has borrowed more, but was still in debt. Sharmila’s baby has been released from hospital, and continues to gain weight and get routine vaccinations.&nbsp; Left out in the cold When we visited Jajarkot and Rukum West nearly two months after the earthquake, survivors were still living in tents and plastic shelters.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240102150124_1efe377bce5e1b8b264308d2378871aba0fc34c13046cabc6fffbdb940c7bb86.png" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20240102150124_1efe377bce5e1b8b264308d2378871aba0fc34c13046cabc6fffbdb940c7bb86" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot earthquake"> <figcaption>A health post destroyed in Chinabagar, Ward 1, Rukum West.</figcaption> </figure>  A female community health volunteer (FCHV) in Athbiskot told us she was having trouble finding a good tent for a mother just discharged from a health facility with her newborn. Up the mountain, we reached the house of Seema Chand Malla, 28, who was eight months pregnant. Her brother-in-law was hammering together a door for a wooden shelter while waiting for the government’s Rs 50,000 temporary shelter allowance. Sitting on a windy ridge, Seema said: “It’s very cold, but so far we're OK – let’s see what happens.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/below-zero-at-ground-zero">Below zero at ground zero</a>, Durga Rana Magar Like many women we spoke to, Seema seemed to be receiving some, but not all, routine health services. She had gone for six pre-birth (ANC) visits, was taking calcium and iron supplements regularly and had been given medicine to prevent worms. As one of her three children, a son, played on her lap, she said her health was good. The local FCHV used to visit to provide vitamins or information about the children’s health, but Seema had not seen her since the earthquake. The family had received one blanket, a small tent, 25kg of rice and some buckets from the government and various agencies. When we returned from Seema Chand’s house four tractors arrived towing carts piled high with sleeping mats, rice and other goods. We saw such relief deliveries mixed with various stages of reconstruction work across the affected areas.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/demographics-of-disaster-in-nepal-quake">Demographics of disaster in Nepal quake</a>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240102150116_7f6c045a4fccc3bb87f6746e702f4db8362b2cfd1d960c55e6ed326fe2bca183.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20240102150116_7f6c045a4fccc3bb87f6746e702f4db8362b2cfd1d960c55e6ed326fe2bca183" data-rendition-name="original" width="1125" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot earthquake"> <figcaption>Seema Chand Malla, with her son, in Aathbiskot, Ward 14.</figcaption> </figure>  In Radi Bazar a crowd had gathered to get the forms needed to apply for government cash for shelters.&nbsp; <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mass-cremations-for-nepal-quake-victims">The damage</a> seemed mostly random, with single houses on village roads reduced to rubble, but there were also whole clusters of homes that had fallen. On a slope overlooking the scenic, glacier-fed aquamarine Bheri River, there was a line of orange and blue tents. New mother Samjhana Bitalu, 19, crawled out from one of them to tell us that her house nearby was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/grief-stricken-survivors-are-cold-and-hungry">damaged in the earthquake</a> and uninhabitable.&nbsp; She and her 55-days-old baby Monika were staying here with her husband, who did not want to leave them alone to return to his job in Khalanga. Samjhana said she gave birth at a nearby health post, but no staff visited her afterwards. The only help the family had received was a tent and 25kg of rice from the Ward office.&nbsp; “When it rains it’s hard to keep the baby dry because the water comes inside the tent, and she has diarrhoea,” the mother said. Following local custom, she did not think the baby should receive any treatment before she was two months old. But a health worker urged Samjhana to get medical care for the baby. “It’s more difficult because I have to manage everything alone,” Samjhana said stoically. “Otherwise, everyone would have been together at home.” Nearby, Amrita Gharti, 22, was still living in her in-laws’ house with her husband. She was almost two months pregnant.&nbsp; Amrita previously had a miscarriage, despite being told by ANCs that she was healthy. This time, arriving at her local birthing facility for her first checkup, she was told to return when she was exactly two months pregnant. “They didn’t do my checkup. They were too busy,” she said.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240102150120_e6d6fd29a04a5c3fa20fc6bd50c2236287fce0b7ddce0e508fefb329644ecf91.png" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="20240102150120_e6d6fd29a04a5c3fa20fc6bd50c2236287fce0b7ddce0e508fefb329644ecf91" data-rendition-name="original" width="1125" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot earthquake"> <figcaption>Amrita Gharti is pregnant and living in her in-laws' house in Nalgad, Ward 1.</figcaption> </figure>  Aruna Chaudhary of the Radha Paudel Foundation spent two weeks in Nalgad providing menstrual kits to 450 women and adolescent girls.&nbsp; Demand for her support was great and the cold was especially hard on children, she told us.&nbsp; “Many children have pneumonia and cholera and have to take medicine,” she added. “There was lots of diarrhoea and many had injuries from the earthquake itself.”&nbsp; Pneumonia and other cold-related illnesses were also growing in Chinabagar where lack of water and sanitation was worsening the situation, especially for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/remove-barriers-to-life-saving-drug-to-prevent-maternal-deaths">women and adolescent girls</a>. Dhani Kumar Giri from the group WOREC was assisting arrivals at a tent while the group also provided care door-to-door. In a nearby tent an organization was providing psychological counselling to those troubled by the disaster. Some good news Around noon on 6 December, Man Kumari Singh arrived with labour pains at the health post in Athbiskot-4 of Jajarkot. She was pregnant with twins, but had been declared healthy during previous visits to the facility. But by 4PM her labour had not progressed and Man Kumari was starting to shake in distress. Staff decided to request a helicopter rescue, but by the time permission was granted from Kathmandu it was too late in the day.&nbsp; Health post staff decided to send her to the municipal hospital in Dali, but doctors there referred her to the mission hospital in Chaurjahari instead. They sent an ambulance carrying two nurses to accompany her. At 1AM that night Man Kumari’s twins were delivered normally. By noon she had been transferred to the ICU at the provincial hospital in Surkhet. Soon after she was moved to the general ward and by 19 December she had recovered and been discharged. The twins were also reported to be in good health. Author thanks One Heart Worldwide for arranging logistics for reporting on this story.&nbsp;

Poverty killed a mother, not the quake

The 2015 earthquakes in Central Nepal that killed over 9,000 people had many lessons for us, most important of which was the need to be prepared for future disasters. After all, it was not a question of if there would be another quake, but when. And sure enough, it came with the 6.4 Jajarkot earthquake of 3 November. At least 160 people were killed outright, buried under the rubble of their fragile homes. Dozens more have died of cold and diseases since. After the 2015 disaster, there was a general consensus about putting safety measures into place: building seismic-resistant structures, retrofitting public buildings, and the need for emergency preparedness. Prior to this, there was no such understanding at the political level, within government or the public. Another big lesson learned was how a separate institution, independent from the regular government structure, can more effectively carry out reconstruction, post-disaster. Reconstruction was fraught with challenges, political interference being the foremost. But the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) coordinated effectively between internal and external assistance, and helped to carry out the process successfully. The NRA was also crucial in managing resources, setting guidelines, and developing a single goal-oriented approach that would incorporate everyone from the public to the Prime Minister. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/grief-stricken-survivors-are-cold-and-hungry">Grief-stricken survivors are cold and hungry</a>, Sagar Budathoki But we did more than rebuild the houses. What was achieved was technology transfer on a massive scale, including knowledge about safe building even for mud-mortar, stone and wooden structures. It also showed us how to make cash distribution transparent and take it directly to the people with zero-tolerance for corruption. We created a National Consultative Council for all the political parties to work together as well as the bureaucracy, private sector, and civil society. At the district level, a mechanism was put in place for MPs and representatives from all three levels to collaborate. There were vertical and horizontal links between all levels. The NRA was superseded by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) in 2019 which has since put forward plans to make Nepal a disaster resilient country by 2030. Blueprints, frameworks and maps have been created for earthquake and flood preparedness and relief. They were submitted to the government, but it has been filed away with no action taken. As soon as the reconstruction work was complete, it seems we forgot about disaster preparedness. And so, when the Jajarkot earthquake struck, we were unprepared again. We cannot prevent or predict earthquakes, but we sure can prepare. Even so, all we seem to be capable of is to react after a disaster hits. More than 60,000 houses were partially or completely damaged in the Bajhang, Doti, and Jajarkot earthquakes that have struck in the past year. Most of the partially damaged houses have to be demolished. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/in-a-disastrous-state">In a disastrous state</a>, Sonia Awale  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231124081136_7326ad8a1402b30c2a9698697e9922a4dc54d5ad84a5bc0dc1a68e3d2da66c3f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20231124081136_7326ad8a1402b30c2a9698697e9922a4dc54d5ad84a5bc0dc1a68e3d2da66c3f" data-rendition-name="original" width="2250" height="1499" loading="lazy" alt="2023 Western Nepal earthquake NT"></figure>  The NDRRMA allocates Rs400,000 in subsidy for houses to be rebuilt in the mountains. This adds up to Rs24 billion, and if we add other expenses including technical assistance, technology transfer and others, the total comes to Rs30 billion. But if we had followed the preparedness plan, we could have retrofitted and made houses across Nepal safer at a lower cost. They could have withstood a moderate earthquake like the one in Jajarkot and the casualties would have been much lighter. What we had proposed was a safety steel rod in every mud-mortar house, retrofitting and Rs100,000 to the owner so that the structure is safe from earthquakes as well as water and fire disasters. In fact, 300,000 houses across the country could have been retrofitted with just Rs30 billion with the government providing the initial Rs100,000 in subsidy for people to reinforce their concrete homes. The World Bank was ready to invest $10 million to survey the state of houses across the country for retrofitting, but it never took off. Reconstruction of the structures damaged by the Jajarkot earthquake will now proceed. The good news is that after the 2015 earthquake, we now have experience and expertise in doing that. We also have local governments, unlike the last time. They will be at the frontlines of reconstruction and resettlement. NDRRMA can provide strategic guidelines, gather resources, coordinate and train human resources, monitor the reconstruction work carried out through the local and state levels, and give policy directions. This exercise in turn will capacitate all three structures of government, and in the long term, all three levels of the government will be better equipped to deal with disasters. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/rebuilding-resilience-7-years-later">Rebuilding resilience 7 years later</a>, Anil Pokharel It is an opportunity to put our federal structure to good use, empower local leaders, resolve doubts about the system, coordinate the three levels of government and mobilise the support of the international community. Shelter is the topmost priority following any disaster, especially now that winter has set in on the western mountains. Survivors need relief materials including money for temporary housing. We need to identify beneficiaries, distribute grants by establishing a banking system, develop human resources and other frameworks. Only after that do we start reconstruction. Experts, government agencies and local representatives should coordinate with all levels of government to determine the role and share the work. Initiatives should be taken now in terms of raising resources. We have created a framework for dealing with disasters at the national level in the form of the Disaster Resilience Framework.Similarly, provinces and local levels should also create theirs. The framework has five elements: 1. Provide financial and technical support to make homes and schools safer through local governments. 2. Assess the damage and estimate the amount needed. 3. Put the Disaster Management Act into operation at all three levels of government. 4. Look at disaster insurance instead of just doling out money to people to rebuild. The government can pay the premium for the poorest families 5. Establish emergency centres with relief stockpiles at the federal, provincial and local levels. The Far West and Karnali provinces are underserved. Reconstruction, if done intelligently, is also an opportunity to uplift these areas economically. Disaster preparedness should be integrated into the education system so young Nepalis know that the country is disaster-prone and it is best to be prepared. Disasters do not kill people but poorly built structures do-- local levels should carry out risk assessment while developing land use plans. Most of all, what is needed now is the readiness to implement the blueprints, frameworks, experience and knowledge that we gleaned after 2015. Otherwise this tragedy will also be in vain. Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/epicentre-of-two-disasters-in-west-nepal"> Epicentre of two disasters in West Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale

Learning from Jajarkot what we didn't after 2015

The deadly midnight earthquake last Friday in Karnali Province occurred in an area where seismologists had long predicted the next Big One. 
This was the ‘seismic gap’ that this newspaper first wrote about in its <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5065">9-15 January 2004 edition</a> commemorating National Earthquake Safety Day and the 70th anniversary of the 8.5 magnitude 1934 disaster.
The subduction of the Indian plate into and below the Eurasian landmass leads to accumulated stress in the rock strata deep beneath the Himalaya. This tectonic tension builds up over time, and if it is not released periodically the result could be a megaquake that could result in a rupture leading to 6m or more of horizontal surface displacement.
Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/deadly-earthquake-hits-w-nepal">Deadly earthquake hits W Nepal</a>, Nepali Times 
Seismic experts now say that the 3 November event was not the massive one that was expected. At 6.4 it was a moderate quake with a shallow epicenter, which is why the destruction was limited to a relatively small radius although the shaking was felt as far away as Delhi and Kathmandu.
The disaster also exposed Nepal’s demographic shift. Of the 157 confirmed dead so far, many were women because most men have migrated abroad for work. There was also a class and caste element, as the flimsiest homes belonged to the poorest families. 
Disaster management experts like to say that it is not earthquakes that kill people but buildings. Indeed, quakes are not ‘natural disasters’ but mostly man made. Proof of this was the 25 April 2105 earthquake which killed nearly 9,000 people in central Nepal as substandard buildings collapsed. 
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/grief-stricken-survivors-are-cold-and-hungry">Grief-stricken survivors are cold and hungry</a>, Sagar Budhathoki
Tragically, this also was proven in last week’s disaster when fragile stone and mud plaster homes collapsed with the very first jolt. Newer buildings with reinforced concrete columns withstood the shaking, but had the intensity and duration of the quake been longer they would have also crumbled.
Seismologists say the Jajarkot quake was not strong enough to release all the tectonic stress -- which could mean it was either a precursor to a bigger one to come, or it has made the region safe for another decade or so.
There is no way to predict it either way. What we know for sure is that the next one is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’. It is better to invest now in preparedness than in counting bodies and the number of collapsed buildings after a disaster.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mass-cremations-for-nepal-quake-victims">Mass cremations for Nepal quake victims</a>, Sagar Budhathoki and Gopen Rai
For this, we already have lessons from the 2015 earthquake. Nearly 7,500 school buildings with 35,000 classrooms collapsed eight years ago and even if we make a conservative estimate of only 10 students per class, the loss of young lives would have been catastrophic. What saved them was that the quake happened on a Saturday.
In Jajarkot and Rukum West last week, many families were crushed by their falling homes while they slept. But given the number of schools that have collapsed, the casualty rate may have been higher if the quake had happened in the daytime on a weekday.
The first order of business for prevention would therefore be to retrofit school buildings all over Nepal, but especially in Gandaki, Karnali and Far Western Provinces. Earthquake safety instruction and drills should also be mandatory in schools. Digging tools, tents, first aid kits and go bags must be pre-positioned in school premises which can serve as shelters. Hospitals and public buildings also need to be retrofitted, and private home owners encouraged to make safety inspections.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-quake-survivors-wait-for-kin-to-return">Nepal quake survivors wait for kin to return</a>, Sagar Budhathoki
There are now earthquake early alert systems available that give up to 30 second warnings by analysing earthquake P waves waves and estimating its location and intensity to send alerts either through alarm devices installed in schools, or now on Android phones.
In fact, in the last 5.7 magnitude earthquake on 3 October in Bajhang, many people with Android phones got alerts in Kathmandu even while the earthquake was happening 500km away. Personal phones therefore became seismometers and could even give prior warning of quakes if Nepal becomes part of the <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/science/earthquake-early-warning-overview">US Geological Survey’s ShakeAlert</a> system. The awkwardly acronymed NDRRMA (National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority) was given a back seat in the aftermath of the Jajarkot quake. Its chief was travelling, and the government put in place a ‘one window’ coordination unit in Karnali that, instead of facilitating a more efficient mechanism for relief delivery, has become a bottleneck.
The 3 November disaster was a dress rehearsal for a bigger catastrophe to come, and sadly, we did not come off with flying colours this time.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/demographics-of-disaster-in-nepal-quake">Demographics of disaster in Nepal quake</a>, Nepali Times

Shaking things up

It has been three days, and survivors of the 3 November earthquake in Kolchaur village have been waiting for kin to return from abroad so they can perform the cremation rites of those who died. When the earthquake hit just before midnight on Friday, six people all from the same family, lost their lives here, buried when their home collapsed. On Sunday morning, villagers gathered in front of what used to be the home of Hasti Kami. Some stacked logs while others made bamboo stretchers for the bodies to be taken down to the river for the collective cremation.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231107071124_5a9799ea01f377783e5e6a0f50d75c8d729fb2e9343b36885a5d547c32ee9424.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20231107071124_5a9799ea01f377783e5e6a0f50d75c8d729fb2e9343b36885a5d547c32ee9424" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="Kolchaur 3"></figure>  They had been waiting for the bodies of five of those killed to arrive from the morgue at Jajarkot Hospital where they had been kept until Hasti’s son Uday who is a migrant worker in Malaysia arrived. On Friday, Hasti, 62 along with nine of her family had gone to bed after dinner. Hasti only found two of her grandsons, Bikram and Ujwal still alive. Neighbours helped dig out the bodies of the other six members in the darkness. Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/deadly-earthquake-hits-w-nepal">Deadly earthquake hits W Nepal</a>, Nepali Times Hasti lost her daughter-in-law Januka, 30, granddaughters Sharmila, 13 and Anjali, 9 and her four-year-old grandson Ujjwal. They are the wife and children of Uday who arrived from Malaysia on Sunday. Hasti also lost two other granddaughters Niruta, 11, who is Uday’s brother’s daughter and Bishnu Tiruwa, 8, who is the daughter of Uday’s sister Lalmati.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231107071124_768cb55c68c94665ed5087d9f8c1b4a0bc79b7d90e290e8082a0ea92d1b497b0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20231107071124_768cb55c68c94665ed5087d9f8c1b4a0bc79b7d90e290e8082a0ea92d1b497b0" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="Kolchaur4"></figure>  Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mass-cremations-for-nepal-quake-victims">Mass cremations for Nepal quake victims</a>, Sagar Budhathoki and Gopen Rai Lalmati had left her daughter in the care of her mother when she went to work in Kuwait. Bishnu’s body is still in the hospital waiting for her mother’s return.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231107071132_ff0c4f1aa39076721cf50e5969df82478fa311556a994b761ca9ed9cbe2c0259.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20231107071132_ff0c4f1aa39076721cf50e5969df82478fa311556a994b761ca9ed9cbe2c0259" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1512" loading="lazy" alt="Kolchaur 7"></figure>  Around 1pm, the bodies arrived from the hospital wrapped in white cloth. As the five were laid in front of the house, Hasti folded her hands and started weeping, asking for forgiveness for not being able to save her family. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/demographics-of-disaster-in-nepal-quake">Demographics of disaster in Nepal quake</a>, Nepali Times Uday arrived at the ruins of his home amidst the cry of mourners. He was in shock, and could not say anything as he knelt next to the bodies of his wife and children. He could not even shed a tear. A relative said, “At least look at your son’s face.” Uday finally spoke: “What is there to look at? There is nothing left anymore.” Another relative removed the cloth around the face of his four-year-old son. Uday could not control himself and finally let out a cry, saying: “God! Why did you do this to me? Why should I live when the ones for whom I worked to take care of are no more?”  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231107071124_63357999c6d9a5f511b3613d632b393d49129262af965df2d5faf972188644f0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20231107071124_63357999c6d9a5f511b3613d632b393d49129262af965df2d5faf972188644f0" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="Kolchaur"></figure>  His hands trembled as he smeared vermillion on his son’s face. He still could not bring himself to look at his daughters and wife’s face. “Look at them one last time,” relatives urged him.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231107071128_00fb13718135495d6c154f3ab577ddd4455d5845ef8bf304c30dbf03b7735688.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20231107071128_00fb13718135495d6c154f3ab577ddd4455d5845ef8bf304c30dbf03b7735688" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1402" loading="lazy" alt="Kolchaur 5"></figure>  Neighbours then carried the bodies and headed down to the cremation site by the river. Hasti followed, stopping midway with other women from the village. Today, she bid farewell to five of her family members, she still has to see off her youngest granddaughter whose body was waiting for her mother to arrive from Kuwait.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231107071124_7725358b5fe46e7028ac055686b0c15829332a3856f79502d4cca9c1fd5c248f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20231107071124_7725358b5fe46e7028ac055686b0c15829332a3856f79502d4cca9c1fd5c248f" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1372" loading="lazy" alt="Kolchaur 2"></figure>  Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/grief-stricken-survivors-are-cold-and-hungry">Grief-stricken survivors are cold and hungry</a>, Sagar Budathoki

Nepal quake survivors wait for kin to return

Shock turned to grief, and now it is accompanied by hunger and cold. Complicated logistics and bureaucracy has meant that relief material has not yet reached <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mass-cremations-for-nepal-quake-victims">the village of Chiuri in Jajarkot</a> that was devastated by the midnight earthquake of 3 November. &nbsp; Thirteen of those killed in just this one village were cremated in a collective funeral by the banks of Bheri down the mountain on Sunday. It was nightfall, and the mourners had still not returned.&nbsp; The survivors were spreading out freshly harvested straw under a plastic sheet to make a bed for their second night out in the open. It gets chilly after sunset here, and the families have rolled up some tattered blankets they have retrieved from the ruins of their homes. Even in Chiuri, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/demographics-of-disaster-in-nepal-quake">the worst affected</a> part was the predominantly-Dalit Imle neighbourhood where four members of the Hire Kami family were killed in their sleep when their house collapsed. Only eight-year-old Premkali was pulled out alive from the rubble. She lost her parents and two siblings.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231106081124_065db8f5b0483b79bfe42352dd38d28c1f55b77f460417de1aa9539453e0d7ec.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20231106081124_065db8f5b0483b79bfe42352dd38d28c1f55b77f460417de1aa9539453e0d7ec" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot Nepal earthquake"> <figcaption>Eight-year-old Premkali lost both of her parents and her two older brothers in the earthquake.</figcaption> </figure>  The underserved Dalit community in these mountains of northwestern Nepal usually have the flimsiest houses made of stone and mud, and nine of them in Imle immediately collapsed when the first jolts of the<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/deadly-earthquake-hits-w-nepal"> shallow 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit</a>. Premkali herself was hurt in her head finger and back by a falling beam, and had just been brought back from hospital. She was staring into the distance outside her collapsed home, wincing in pain.&nbsp; The eight-year-old seemed to be in complete shock, and would even be startled by neighbours consoling her. “Poor thing, you have no one now, who will look after you,” one neighbor Debmaya BK said to Premkali. Tears streamed down both her cheeks, the girl could not say anything. One of Premkali’s elder brothers went to India a few years ago, and there is hope that he will return to take care of her. She does not even remember her brother’s face since he left when she was very young.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/mind-the-gap">Mind the gap</a>, Editorial  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231106081116_dbe8c7fb138e6ecd53c8e9b13f9d847cbdecd482c61c83f23e437b6b33560bf8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20231106081116_dbe8c7fb138e6ecd53c8e9b13f9d847cbdecd482c61c83f23e437b6b33560bf8" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1328" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot Nepal earthquake"> <figcaption>Chiuri Village in Jajarkot.</figcaption> </figure>  On Friday night, Hire Kami, 55, his wife and their 12 and 14-year-old sons had gone to sleep on the ground floor of their house. Premkali and her friend Rupa were on the upper level. Their floor fell on the floor below where the four were sleeping.&nbsp; Rupa, 14, is also injured, and says she does not remember much. “In the morning I just saw the four of Premkali’s family laid out in front of the collapsed house, they all looked like they were sleeping,” she said. Premkali is in Grade 3, Rupa is in Grade 9 and they go to the same school. Since there was no one except the girl left in the family, the combined cremation for Hire Kami, his wife and two sons was performed by a neighbor, Lal Bahadur Kami. He told us: “They have no one else.” &nbsp; Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/earthquake-vacates-villages-in-nepal"> Earthquake vacates villages in Nepal</a>, Anita Bhetwal A neighbour Bimala BK who survived had rushed to Hire Kami’s house and heard them shouting for help from under the rubble for about an hour, but soon the voices died out. “We did not have digging tools, and could not remove the stones in time in the darkness to save them,” Bimala said.&nbsp; It is early winter here in the mountains, and the nights are getting cold. Nearly all the 80 houses in Chiuri have been damaged or destroyed, many pots and pans are buried and families cannot even cook a hot meal in the open. There is a bottleneck in supplies reaching these remote villages because the government has decided to coordinate all relief through the Nepal Army base in Surkhet, and there are only a limited number of helicopters.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231106081120_28a779ee783432b14130c2f918b0978c52dafbb849c91ec7d48555e8aa17d8ec.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20231106081120_28a779ee783432b14130c2f918b0978c52dafbb849c91ec7d48555e8aa17d8ec" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="Jajrkot Nepal earthquake"> <figcaption>Survivours huddle together for warmth outside of their partially damanged house. </figcaption> </figure>  Bhagwati BK has prepared the straw beds for mourners returning from the funeral, and says: “If the earthquake did not kill us, the cold will probably kills us. We urgently need shelter, food and warm clothes.” Sabitri B K, 21, from Chapaghat village was inconsolable on the banks of the Bheri on Sunday afternoon as the logs were laid out on the funeral pyres for her five-year-old son who was crushed when their home collapsed. Sabitri and her husband were rescued. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/in-a-disastrous-state">In a disastrous state</a>, Sonia Awale “Oh god, why didn’t you take instead?” she implored, looking up at the sky.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231106081124_90502f8251679cbae4dfa35c7c9d84b8392404086ce702cef81c12b09a868502.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20231106081124_90502f8251679cbae4dfa35c7c9d84b8392404086ce702cef81c12b09a868502" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="Jajarkot Nepal earthquake"> </figure>  Dipa Pariyar, 60, was also at the river side waiting for the joint funeral for her two granddaughters, 16 and 26, and a 18-month-old grandson. Her son was not at home and her daughter-in-law was injured. A relative and her 9-year-old daughter were also killed. Pariyar wept, as she said: “Why did you have to save me, god, and kill them?"&nbsp;

Grief-stricken survivors are cold and hungry

It is a brilliantly bright autumn day by the banks of the Bheri River. Along the cold green waters, the whole village of Chiuri is gathered for a mass cremation of those who died in the earthquake just before midnight on 3 November. Two tractors follow the mourners filled with logs, and the bodies of 13 who were killed are laid out. One of them is Deputy Mayor of Malaga Municipality Sarita Singh, and there are five smaller shrouds covering the bodies of children below 14. Sabitri B K, 21, is inconsolable. “Oh god,” she says looking up at the sky, “you should have taken me instead, why did you take my son?” Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/deadly-earthquake-hits-w-nepal">Deadly earthquake hits W Nepal</a>, Nepali Times&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023110514110_ebf5a6f555083baa2d5c3da45fe93203b3edf703524232982a68a6ffdfeaabf2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2023110514110_ebf5a6f555083baa2d5c3da45fe93203b3edf703524232982a68a6ffdfeaabf2" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="2023 western Nepal earthquake NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023110514110_95cdda0701d84b756f2165a28e0cf7787bc15aa84dfd147938b4d7bdb41913fb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2023110514110_95cdda0701d84b756f2165a28e0cf7787bc15aa84dfd147938b4d7bdb41913fb" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="2023 western Nepal earthquake NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023110514110_8ed1f9d517639c8aa515f6f3289ef5b5adf82cc57841d262d150044db3e4b84e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2023110514110_8ed1f9d517639c8aa515f6f3289ef5b5adf82cc57841d262d150044db3e4b84e" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="2023 western Nepal earthquake NT"> </figure>  Sabitri’s husband is haunched near the body of their five year old son who was crushed in his sleep by falling beams when their house collapsed. Sabitri and her husband were also buried under the rubble, but were rescued alive. Hire Kami, 55, along with his wife and two sons aged 12 and 14 were also killed in the earthquake. His eight-year-old daughter Premkali is the only surviving member of the family, so the collective funeral rituals are being performed by their neighbour Lal Bahadur Kami. “There is no one else, so I am doing it,” Lal Bahadur says simply. Lal Bahadur Kami recalls the moment at 11:49 when the ground started to shake, the screams of people were drowned by a deep underground growl and the road of houses coming down. Family members clawed through the bricks and dirt with their bare hands trying to save their relatives. As the dust settled, and in the light of mobile phone torchlights, he noticed that not a single house on his street was standing. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/demographics-of-disaster-in-nepal-quake">Demographics of disaster in Nepal quake</a>, Nepali Times  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023110514110_1dab9f89bcfdb2812a75d1d084decade9cd73bdb75f23c3dbc5cbed92abb2374.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2023110514110_1dab9f89bcfdb2812a75d1d084decade9cd73bdb75f23c3dbc5cbed92abb2374" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="2023 western Nepal earthquake NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023110514110_9aac984e53a3f3b7bb49ecb91aa2f6e5dcbf4d1839aa224adf57b1172a2311c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2023110514110_9aac984e53a3f3b7bb49ecb91aa2f6e5dcbf4d1839aa224adf57b1172a2311c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="2023 western Nepal earthquake NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023110514110_90502f8251679cbae4dfa35c7c9d84b8392404086ce702cef81c12b09a868502.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="2023110514110_90502f8251679cbae4dfa35c7c9d84b8392404086ce702cef81c12b09a868502" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="2023 western Nepal earthquake NT"> </figure>  Rescuers reached people whose muffled cries could be heard from below the debris, but others could not be saved because there was not enough digging equipment. Most of the mud and stone houses collapsed. One old house collapsed, but its new reinforced concrete annex was intact. On the other side of the Bheri River, villagers from Chapaghat had gathered to perform the final rites of three siblings who were killed, buried under their house on Friday, two daughters 16 and 26, and an 18 month old son. Their father was not at home and their mother was injured. Their relative Bindu Rokaya and her nine-year-old daughter were also killed. “Oh god, why did you save me and kill them?" their grandmother Dipa Pariyar said, weeping as villagers prepared the collective pyre. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/lessons-still-not-learnt">Lessons still not learnt</a>, Sonia Awale  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023110514110_f2e996cc50e668616ae7c5f68dd22ad9c3393f24df388b43098833a23c7a8213.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="2023110514110_f2e996cc50e668616ae7c5f68dd22ad9c3393f24df388b43098833a23c7a8213" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="2023 western Nepal earthquake NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023110514110_aabd59d3f2fef52914c47f249312c4193fa137081b238ea6224b1488101ca9fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2023110514110_aabd59d3f2fef52914c47f249312c4193fa137081b238ea6224b1488101ca9fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="2023 western Nepal earthquake NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;All of the 80 houses in Chiuri village, some 30 km from the district headquarters Khalanga, were severely damaged. On Saturday, the villagers busied themselves trying to salvage clothes, beddings and kitchenware from the rubble. Even two days after the disaster, the many here have not received any relief. Says Dilbahadur BK, a local, "We cannot build our houses immediately. In the meantime if we could get tents and beddings, it would help us in the cold." At least 157 people were killed in Rukum West and Jajarkot districts of Nepal's remote mountains, 102 of them were women, and 32 were children.Many in the affected villages are still in shock and have not yet come to terms with the nightmare. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/epicentre-of-two-disasters-in-west-nepal">Epicentre of two disasters in West Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale

Mass cremations for Nepal quake victims

Nepal’s only international aviation gateway, at Kathmandu airport, will cut night-time operation hours to allow construction of taxiways, and airlines have been told to curtail flights. This is expected to lead to more than normal chaos during the height of peak autumn and spring tourist seasons at an airport that is congested even at the best of times. The airport will close from 10PM to 8AM from 8 November-31 March 2025. The taxiways will now connect to the thresholds at both ends of the runway, making the airport more efficient in handling higher frequencies of landings and takeoffs. The parallel taxiway extension will allow international flights to land every 4 minutes instead of the current every 7 minutes. At present planes have to wait to land until a plane taking off backtracks along the runway.&nbsp; Kathmandu is Nepal’s only airport with international operations, and it has only one runway that is only one way in from the south over the mountains. With the taxiway improvement, the airport will be able to handle 42 aircraft landings and takeoffs per hour — double the current capacity.&nbsp; The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has been trying to entice international airlines to also start flying to and from the other two international airports at Pokhara and Bhairawa (Lumbini) by slashing landing and handling charges. But so far only Nepal Airlines operates a weekly flight to Bhairawa from Kuala Lumpur.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32" data-rendition-name="original" width="2356" height="1134" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport expansion"> <figcaption>Kathmandu Airport Expansion plan with extension of taxiways to the thresholds of runways 02 and 20 that will limit airport operations from 8 November 2024 - 31 March 2025. Areas in blue are existing structures, including the international terminal which in future will be the domestic airport, and the new international terminal near the north end of the runway,</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1353" height="1328" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport NT"> </figure>  CAAN has reportedly told international airlines to cut their flight frequency to Kathmandu citing the shorter operation hours and has told budget airlines to shift some of their flights to Pokhara or Bhairawa, or face cuts. Many airlines currently operate regular flights to and from Kathmandu between 10PM and 8AM: Air Arabia to Sharjah, Fly Dubai to Dubai, Jazeera Airways to Kuwait, Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, Singapore Airlines, several Nepal Airlines flights, and one of four daily flights by Qatar Airways to Doha. Jazeera Airways, FlyDubai, and Thai AirAsia have applied and got permission from CAAN to begin regular flights to Bhairawa’s Gautam Buddha International Airport. Starting 9 November, FlyDubai will start making a stopover in Bhairawa before flying on to Kathmandu. Immigration, customs and security are all fully functional in Bhairawa. In Kathmandu, the next phase of the airport upgrade includes converting the current international terminal for domestic operations, the construction of a new international terminal where the domestic departure area is now, as well as moving the hangars and the Nepal Army Air Wing to the eastern side of the runway. The apron area will also double its parking space for widebody jets. This is part of a Airport Capacity Enhancement Project that was initially funded through a $80 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the entire masterplan is expected to cost $800 million. This project is the latest upgrade to Nepal’s only international airport since it saw its first flight in 1949. The current international and domestic terminals are too small to handle the current annual traffic volume of 8.5 million passengers a year that is growing at 20% a year.

Kathmandu airport to cut flight hours

As Kathmandu becomes more congested and polluted, and with remote online work becoming the norm, many professional Nepalis are planning to retire in Pokhara, or move there.&nbsp; With its stunning mountain panorama, balmy winters and proximity to a profusion of wilderness areas, builders are responding to this demand with new townhouses, housing development and apartments. One such block of flats is the 10-storey <a href="https://sungavaapartment.com/">Sungava Apartment</a> located at Phulbari above the Seti River, near the point where it flows into and under Pokhara. The imposing structure near Manipal Hospital is almost complete, and on a recent visit the site was strewn with huge boulders unearthed while digging the foundation.&nbsp; The Seti brought down these boulders during a gigantic flood that geologists estimate happened 800 years ago when a chunk of Annapurna IV broke off and ploughed into the glacier below. Today, Sungava (means ‘orchid’) sits safely on a high terrace, 100m above the blue-green Seti and commands a view of Dhaulagiri, Annapurna South, Machapuchre, Annapurna III and IV.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2016" height="1512" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  The soil here is conglomerate that has solidified like concrete, and the boulders were extracted by heavy earthmovers. It is intriguing to think that these metamorphic rocks as big as cars, rounded by glacial grinding, were once a part of a much higher Annapurna IV. Even for those with little interest in geology, Sungava is an ideal place to contemplate the tectonic forces that pushed these peaks into the sky to be sculpted into delicate shapes by wind, snow, earthquake and avalanche over millions of years. The view of the Himalayan panorama from Sungava’s many balconies are breathtaking when not obscured by clouds, or the haze that drifts in from across the southern border. On most days, just watching the towering pyramid of Machapuchre (Tamu name: कतासुँ क्लिको) play hide and seek with the clouds is mesmerising. There are rocks aplenty at Phulbari, and it is probably the flowers that grew along the flat terraces e that gave the place its flowery name. The boulders will hopefully be turned into a rock garden while landscaping. An nearby restaurant complex is making the best use of the stones in its design, using flat rocks as outdoor benches and tables. Sungava was designed by the husband-wife architect team of Deepak Sherchan and Jyoti Joshi of <a href="https://thedarkmermaidamarbshrestha.blogspot.com/2013/12/creative-builders-collaborative-cbc.html">Creative Builders Collaborative (CBC)</a>, which also built Heritage Plaza, Indreni Apartment and numerous other projects in Nepal. Sadbhavana retains CBC’s trademark Newari-style masonry and here it borrows from the orange brickwork of the old town of Pokhara, integrating it with modern design elements. A few of those heritage houses are still standing in Ganesh Tole and Ram Krishna Tole in Pokhara’s old quarter.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab" data-rendition-name="original" width="1362" height="595" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  About 400m from the apartment past a bend on the river, and down below three tiers of terraces in the canyon is a suspension bridge. Below it, the Seti is still swollen with post-monsoon flow as it tumbles away in a hurry to head down south.&nbsp; Back at the apartment, it is quiet, far away from the hubbub of Lakeside a 15 minute drive away, and in the lap of greenery. There are 52 units at Sungava and it already has a close-knit prospective community of professionals, including doctors, publishers, engineers, and businesspeople from the renewable energy and IT sectors.&nbsp; Some residents say they opted for a second home in Pokhara to make it a ‘base camp’ to explore the Annapurnas with its many hiking trails made newly accessible with new roads. With the NRN citizenship law, overseas Nepalis can now also buy the flats. &nbsp; The floor plans include options for north and south-facing 3-bedroom apartments with verandas, and the facility has underground parking has EV charging, heated pool, sauna and gym. There are still some unsold apartments with panoramic views of the mountains and one can imagine oneself at the kitchen with its huge window, humming a ditty while preparing breakfast: “खाना पकाउँ हिमाल हेरेर...”

High living below the Himalaya

When the United Nations held its Summit of the Future at its headquarters in New York in September, many world leaders, including Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Oli, highlighted the effect of climate breakdown in increasing the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. What did not get as much attention was the long term impact of the climate crisis on food production. In fact, heat stress, weather extremes and the consequences on rain-fed agriculture is already being felt worldwide, undermining the chances of the <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/">UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)</a> being met by 2030.&nbsp; The SDG’s 17 targets commit countries like Nepal to reduce poverty and inequality, end malnutrition, protect the natural environment, and ensure that citizens all enjoy health, justice and prosperity without leaving anyone behind.&nbsp; However, besides the impact of climate breakdown on agricultural production, in Nepal the area under cultivation is impacted by urban expansion, falling productivity and the need for expensive inputs like fertiliser and pesticides.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62" data-rendition-name="original" width="999" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Kathmandu's urban sprawl is eating into its fertile cultivable lands. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  Now, a new study led by Nepali researcher Prajal Pradhan at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands looks at how urban agriculture may offer a solution to falling food production and meeting SDG targets. The researchers evaluated 1,450 publications exploring the contributions of urban agriculture with both positive and negative effects, and published their findings in the journal Cells Report Sustainability. Urban agriculture can help achieve 17 SDGs, positively influencing 81 targets. However, it could also undermine 51 goals.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-vanishing-land">The vanishing land</a>, Taylor Mason “Urban agriculture offers immense potential for sustainable development, but realising this potential depends crucially on adopting practices that minimise its adverse effects while maximising its benefits,” Pradhan explains. Urban agriculture can substantially enhance urban food security, provide employment to the urban poor, serve as ground water recharge in built-up areas, and preserve open spaces that can serve as safe havens during disasters like earthquakes. However, it also presents problems like the potential health risks from contamination and the need for expensive inputs. &nbsp; “Urban agriculture plays a definitive role in advancing the SDGs, but achieving this requires tailored, context-specific solutions that address the unique challenges of different regions,” says Yuanchao Hu of Wuhan University in China and who is a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “But it needs equitable access and rigorous management of environmental risks.”&nbsp; Rapid urbanisation is eating into Nepal’s most fertile agricultural land, which means farming in remaining open spaces inside cities can be a viable alternative, especially as food prices rise.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>A vegetable patch in between new houses in Thimi. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  “The conversion of Nepal’s most fertile land into cities is a severe problem,” Pradhan told Nepali Times. “Crop cultivation, horticulture, agroforestry, beekeeping, livestock rearing, or aquaculture can all be farming activities within and around cities.”&nbsp; The study makes recommendations for sustainable practices that build on the positive aspects of urban agriculture while mitigating the downsides, thereby promoting more resilient cities in future. Research shows that urban agriculture has been helping many countries attain SDG targets by enhancing food security and biodiversity while helping education and preservation of open spaces.&nbsp; Indeed, many farmers from the hinterland who have settled in Kathmandu Valley or other urban areas of the country have been practicing urban agriculture, leasing neighbourhood patches or cultivating roof gardens both out of necessity because of inflation and falling income to grow their own food, and also as a fulfilling hobby. Saurav Dhakal, a sustainability advocate with Story Cycle and now research fellow at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, says there are socio-economic and environmental benefits of urban agriculture. “It provides benefits to all urban dwellers, regardless of their income status,” says Dhakal, “families get fresh food, and there are many other benefits like water retention, heat regulation and biodiversity. These are all public goods, so special government incentives may be needed.” It is not unusual to see vegetable patches and even paddy fields within inner city Kathmandu where an older generation of farmers are using available fertile land and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/rooftop-gardens-kathmandu,1415">roof gardens to produce fresh, nutritious food </a>to reduce their dependence on food items that have to be bought after being trucked in from large distances.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>An older generation of farmers are using any available fertile land to continue farming but it is getting more and more difficult. Photo: TAYLOR MASON </figcaption> </figure>  Nepal’s urban population grew rapidly from only 3.6% in 1991 to 25% today. There is large outmigration from the mountains to peri-urban areas of the Tarai, to Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara, with many young men then moving abroad for work. Kathmandu Valley’s population has swelled to nearly 3 million, and is growing at 6.5% a year. Dilip Shrestha, 71, used to work for Nepal Food Corporation, so he knew firsthand about inflation, shortages and vegetables with pesticide residue. So, when he designed his new house in Kathmandu, he built a spacious roof where he grows cucumber, ginger, garlic, coriander, onions, tomatoes, chili, beans, okra, pumpkin and lettuce. His family eats healthier, and he has reduced dependence on the market.&nbsp; The co-author of the Cell Reports Sustainability journal article, Daya Raj Subedi who is a PhD candidate at Beijing Forestry University, says urban agriculture also promotes inclusion and psycho-social wellbeing.&nbsp; He says, “A crucial finding of the study is the identification of opportunities and challenges associated with urban agriculture, it can promote sustainable transformation of society.” In Banepa, 55-year-old Bijaya Manandhar in her lifetime has watched the fertile farms of her neighbourhood that used to supply vegetables to Kathmandu, now completely built up with no open space left. The pandemic lockdown prompted her to turn to the family’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world">ancestral livelihood by growing food</a> not on terrace farms, but on the roof terrace. Manandhar is now a part of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world%5C%5C">कौसी खेती र करेसाबारी क्रान्ती</a> (Rooftop Farming and Garden Revolution) which has an online membership of 52,000, and awards annual prizes to women who excel in urban agriculture.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="736" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Rooftop farming is gaining popularity as a form of urban agriculture. </figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="3000" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> </figure>  Pradhan says the challenge now is to upscale such examples of successful urban agricultural practices so they support Neal’s efforts to meet SDG targets. He adds, “Crop cultivation around cities can be protected by land use plans and regulations. Promoting community-based agriculture, including rooftop gardens, requires community engagement and public-private partnerships across the food value chain.”&nbsp; Such support would accelerate the popularity of existing rooftop farming and community gardens in Kathmandu Valley, or kitchen garden initiatives in Pokhara, and building on traditional farming practices that are preserved and integrated into urban settings like in Bhaktapur and Banepa. In Lalitpur, the Women Entrepreneurship Facilitation Center promotes urban farming enhancing both sustainability and empowerment.&nbsp; Another co-author of the report, Yuanchao Hu from China says followup research of the team will aim to identify good practices in local urban agriculture practices. He adds, “There are examples of urban agriculture that optimise sustainability, ensuring that it remains a viable solution for cities globally while countries try to meet SDG targets.” Prajal Pradhan, Daya Raj Subedi, Kshitij Dahal, Yuanchao Hu, Prakriti Gurung, Sijal Pokharel, Sagar Kafle, Biplav Khatri, Sudeeksha Basyal, Monika Gurung, and Aruna Joshi. Urban Agriculture matters for sustainable development. Cell Reports Sustainability, 1:100217, 2024. [DOI: 10.1016/j.crsus.2024.100217] Prajal Pradhan (<a href="mailto:p.pradhan@rug.nl">p.pradhan@rug.nl</a>) This article 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.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="SDG logo"> </figure>

Back to the land in the cities

The 700-year-old Lakshmi Narasingha temple in Bhaktapur houses a rare half-lion and half-human incarnation of Lord Vishnu carrying the Goddess Lakshmi. The temple was destroyed in the 1934 mega earthquake that killed 10,000 people and destroyed many monuments in Kathmandu Valley. It was rebuilt by a German project in the 1980s, but as a single-storey structure instead of its original two-tier pagoda design.&nbsp; With new findings from in-depth research, Bhaktapur municipality began re-restoring the temple in 2021, preserving its original architecture.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “Our temples and heritage sites hold deep meaning. It is disheartening to witness how often they lose their original elements, whether by design or accident,” explains Kumar Chawal of the Consumer Committee of Bhaktapur. “There is a need to preserve our architecture and protect its historical value for future generations. Otherwise, we risk losing a vital part of our identity.” The Laksmi Narsingha restoration is similar to the Bhai Dega temple in Patan Darbar Square which also collapsed in 1934, but was rebuilt with a Moghul-style dome by the Rana government at the time. Only two months before the 2015 earthquake, heritage conservationists had started to rebuild Bhai Dega as the original three-tier based on early photographs. But priorities shifted when four other temples in the square were brought down by the 7.8M earthquake on 25 April 2015.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  This showed how damage to monuments in Kathmandu Valley spanned from one earthquake to the next. Bhai Dega restoration remains half-complete to this day because money for its restoration ran out.&nbsp; Whereas Bhai Dega restoration was done by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust with grants from western embassies and international foundations, in Bhaktapur it is the municipality itself that allocated the Rs30.7 million needed to restore the Lakshmi Narasingha temple. The expected date of completion is early 2025. The municipality and local communities are focusing on two main aspects: preserving the past and promoting localisation. The restoration team has designed a blueprint for the temple by using historical photographs and insights from older generations.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="560" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “At first, the Lakshmi Narasingha temple had only one entrance, but during the demolition process, we uncovered the foundations of four doors. Now, we are restoring all of them. This is an example of how our ancient structures have changed over time, often without our knowledge,” says Chawal. “Constructing temples is not like building houses. They carry historical and spiritual values, which is why they hold a special place in our hearts,” he adds. By replicating ancient design elements and rebuilding the temple as accurately as possible to its original form, the team has stayed true to Bhaktapur’s soul. But the restoration also revived ancient techniques that were in danger of being forgotten, generating employment for woodcarvers, masons, and contractors. The community of Bhaktapur’s Gahiti neighbourhood near the famous Nyatapola Temple has also set aside specific days for locals to volunteer in the reconstruction work. This has encouraged young people to take pride in ownership of their heritage. Families have also supported the effort by donating funds for bells, the temple pinnacle, and other structural features to the temple.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “I feel at peace knowing I have contributed my sweat to restoring this temple,” said one volunteer. “It is our duty to preserve our temples and heritage. The Nyatapola area will look magical once this temple is completed.” Community mobilisation is a long-standing tradition in Bhaktapur. In the past, locals have actively participated in the restoration of other temples in the city, such as Bhairav and Nyatapola fostering a strong sense of ownership. This collective engagement has not only been crucial in preserving the city's historical monuments but also in strengthening the bond between local communities and their heritage, says officials at the municipality. While securing funding is essential, and the municipality showed it values heritage conservation, the Lakshmi Narasingha restoration is proof that active involvement and sense of responsibility of the local community is as important, if not more. Local involvement also means that the monuments will be cared for into the future, When locals take ownership of these efforts, the restored monuments are not only protected in the present but are also cared for in the future.

jajarkot-earthquake