<figure><img width="4096" height="2184" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1d689c7e80680e0af3b2jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>PHOTO: US Embassy Nepal</figcaption></figure>The US Embassy in Nepal hosted a Summit for Democracy on the eve of a Summit to be convened by President Joe Biden on Human Rights Day. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will represent Nepal at the Summit that will focus on fighting corruption, countering authoritarianism, and promoting human rights. “In many ways, Nepal serves as a model for the region and the world. Within the last 15 years, Nepal has progressed through a violent Maoist conflict, subsequent peace process, the return of democratic governance, and the ratification of a constitution that defined Nepal as a secular, democratic, and federal government,” said ambassador Randy Berry at the event.

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US Embassy hosts Democracy Summit

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b83c69c7e80680e067756jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="800"/><figcaption>Photo: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>The second wave of Covid-19 is breaking across Nepal with devastating effect. Fueled by new and deadly variants, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/microcosms-of-a-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">virus is replicating faster here than in India</a> (when adjusted for population) and arguably anywhere else on the planet. Our health systems are already overwhelmed and the economy is fracturing. We have reached the point of no return.At current mortality rates, we need to be prepared for up to 285,000 deaths across the country.We are deeply grateful for the $8.5 million recently pledged by the US Government to support Covid relief efforts in Nepal. These funds are allocated to crucial activities like increasing testing capacity, treatment, infection control, and community level assistance. While extremely valuable, these activities alone will not slow, nor will they stop, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/this-is-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the spread of the virus</a>.Like the wildfires that have burned with unprecedented intensity across the country, Covid is spreading at a rate that is hard to fully comprehend. In a number of major population centers, 75% of all Covid tests are coming back positive, as are 47% of tests nationwide. We anticipate that within two months, ten critically ill patients will be vying for every single available ICU bed. Access to ventilators and medical oxygen face the same constriction in supply.Nepal also depends upon manufacturing in India for the majority of our medical supplies -- including basic items like PPE and oxygen cylinders. As India is neck-deep in its own disaster, these materials will cease to be available for import into Nepal soon. Like during the earthquake, our challenges were compounded by a devastating blockade.This needs to be said directly: it is now impossible to upgrade Nepal’s healthcare infrastructure at the speed and scale necessary to meet the overwhelming demands posed by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-covid-tsunami/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Covid crisis</a>. The only option to save lives is to stop the virus at the source, to extinguish the fire. The only way to do this is through a robust and immediate vaccination campaign.In March, the US Government pledged 4.5 million doses to support vaccination programs in Mexico and Canada. In the last week of April, it pledged to share up to 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine stockpile. Twenty countries are currently being considered as potential recipients – the list does not include Nepal.We cannot let Nepal disappear into the darkness: there is simply too much at stake. We have written an open letter to the US Ambassador Randy Berry urging him and his colleagues to pursue any means possible to secure an immediate supply of vaccines for Nepal.The bright and free days of winter are already a distant memory as we enter <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kathmandu-valley-lockdown-till-12-may/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the second week of lockdown</a>. Inevitably, these extreme measures will again slow the spread of the virus and save countless lives. But we also all know this is not a permanent solution.Research shows that, on average, each month of lockdown costs the country approximately 1% of GDP, and this rate grows exponentially over time. Our tolerance for the lockdown will only last so long, and inevitably, despite the exorbitant price tag, this measure of last resort has a very short shelf life.We cannot squander this opportunity again. Nepal has a well-proven ability to distribute crucial public health benefits, including vaccines, to people in every corner of the country, no matter how remote. Our Vitamin A and measles vaccination programs serve as examples for the world.The current lockdown gives us a short window to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/1-6-million-vaccinated-20-million-to-go/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">inoculate the population</a> against the inevitable third and fourth waves of the virus. After this, we will yet again cross the threshold into crisis and death.Almost immediately after the dust settled following the deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake on 25 April, 2015 the international community sprung into action to support Nepal. The US government alone has provided $130 million for life-saving relief and reconstruction projects since.Unlike the earthquake, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-nepal-can-survive-2nd-covid-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">this current disaster</a> is entirely preventable. With help from our longstanding development partners like the US government, we have the opportunity to save tens if not hundreds of thousands of lives across Nepal. Providing surplus vaccine doses to Nepal is an opportunity to reduce unnecessary suffering and death.Unlike with natural disasters, how Nepal manages the coronavirus has profound implications across South Asia and the globe. Stopping the virus here is crucial for the health of our families, the region, and the world.--The Covid Alliance for NepalTo view the open letter to Ambassador Berry, follow this link:Vaccines4nepal.comTo get involved, follow @covidalliancefornepal on Facebook and @alliance4nep on Twitter and Instagram.

Vaccines are the only solution

<img width="828" height="501" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111120/636cd1179c7e80680e08f894jpeg.jpg" alt="Air pollution in Kathmandu"/>Winter inversion, vehicular emission, wildfires, and cross-border industrial pollution have combined to give Kathmandu Valley the worst air quality among cities in the world this week, adding to the risk of respiratory complications for Covid-19 patients.On Monday night, the Air Quality Index (AQI) in parts of Kathmandu crossed 500, according to measurements at the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">US Embassy measuring station</a> at Phora Darbar. It remained at above 500 from 10PM till 5AM, falling to 480 at 7AM on Tuesday. <figure><img width="2156" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111120/636cd1199c7e80680e08f895jpeg.jpg" alt="NASA Worldview image of Nepal wildfires"><figcaption>A NASA Worldview satellite image of Nepal on 3 January showing the spread of smoke from wildfires in Kaski, Lamjung, and Dhading. Combined with vehicle and crossborder pollution,Kathmandu's AQI count hovered at 500 for the second straight day.</figcaption></figure> The Department of Environment’s own measuring station in parts of Kathmandu showed the AQI staying above 400 all day on Monday. Other global AQI measurement sites like <a href="https://support.iqair.com/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">IQAir</a> put Kathmandu’s pollution level at 487 – the highest among cities in the region. <img width="746" height="512" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111120/636cd11c9c7e80680e08f896jpeg.jpg" alt="AQI Kathmandu">New Delhi’s AQI levels, which have been consistently high all winter because of crop residue burning as well as vehicular and industrial pollution, got a respite on Monday because of rainfall. At a time when Kathmandu’s <a href="https://waqi.info/#/c/26.725/78.758/6.2z" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AQI was hitting record highs on Tuesday morning</a> with 438, the New Delhi suburb of Noida recorded less than 151 (<a href="https://aqicn.org/map/#@g/24.4264/86.8579/5z">AQI World map, below).</a> <figure><img width="2234" height="1346" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111120/636cd11e9c7e80680e08f897jpeg.jpg" alt="New Delhi and Kathmandu AQI levels"><figcaption>AQI levels in north India and Nepal on 5 January at 8AM showing Kathmandu's much higher pollution levels compared to New Delhi.</figcaption></figure>AQI is a composite measurement of the concentration of particulate matter below 10 and 2.5 microns, carbon monoxide, sulphur and nitrogen dioxide and ground ozone. AQI level between 0-50 is ‘Good’, 51-100 is ‘Moderate’, 101-150 is ‘Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups’, 151-200 is ‘Unhealthy’, 201-300 is 'Very Unhealthy', and anything above 301 is regarded as 'Hazardous'. Kathmandu's AQI has remained at the Maroon 'Hazardous' level for two days in a row. The US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has also colour coded various AQI levels at Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Purple, and Maroon. The World Health Organisation (WHO)’s guidelines state that AQI should be below 35, and the concentration of particles below 2.5 microns should be below 25 μg/m³over a 24 hour period. This means Kathmandu's pollution has been 15 times higher than the WHO standard. <img width="2172" height="760" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111120/636cd1219c7e80680e08f898jpeg.jpg" alt="AQI measurement guide">In Nepal, a Cabinet decision last year adopted the Department of Environment’s guidelines for air pollution to declare a health emergency if AQI exceeded 300 – meaning the government can ban open burning, close factories, and take measures to reduce vehicles on the roads. The government, which has been engulfed in a crisis within the ruling party after Prime Minister K P Oli dissolved the Lower House and called for snap polls in April-May, seems to be too distracted to pay attention to the converging crises of Covid-19 and air pollution. <img width="1202" height="1064" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111120/636cd1249c7e80680e08f899jpeg.jpg" alt="Bhushan Tuladhar tweet">“This is a grave threat to public health, the government should have declared an emergency and taken urgent measures to curb pollution,” says environmental expert Bhushan Tuladhar. (left)The air pollution emergency in Kathmandu puts the elderly, those with asthma and other respiratory ailments at high risk, and would be especially dangerous to those with Covid-19.  <img width="756" height="1286" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111120/636cd1279c7e80680e08f89ajpeg.jpg" alt="AQI Ratnapark"><img width="660" height="1346" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111120/636cd1299c7e80680e08f89bjpeg.jpg" alt="AQI rank by city">Poor air quality in Kathmandu and inside rural homes due to smoky kitchen fires kill far more people across South Asia than SARS-CoV-2. However, the record-breaking pollution this winter will add to the risk of the coronavirus.  Even before Covid-19, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had warned that poor <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-lockdown-proves-air-quality-can-be-improved/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">air quality</a> in northern India and the Tarai was already the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/air-pollution-decreases-life-span,3999" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reducing average lifespan</a> of tens of millions of people by 3.7 years.“Long-term exposure to air pollution can cause many of the health conditions associated with increased vulnerability to Covid-19, such as diabetes and chronic heart and lung diseases,” said the <a href="https://www.stateofglobalair.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020-10/soga-2020-report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">State of Global Air 2020</a> released last October.  <figure><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111120/636cd12b9c7e80680e08f89cjpeg.jpg" alt="Patan School Lalitpur clock tower"><figcaption>The clock is ticking for Kathmandu to act on reducing the health hazards of air pollution.</figcaption></figure>The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/double-whammy-air-pollution-and-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a> says that 100% of the population in India lives in areas where PM2.5 levels are higher than the WHO Air Quality Guideline. Nepal is not far behind with 98% of its people living in such areas. More than 65% of all deaths due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) in 2019 were linked to air pollution in Nepal.Says Pallavi Pant, air quality scientist at the Health Effects Institute: “Exposures to air pollution have been shown to affect the human body’s immune defence, making an individual more susceptible to respiratory infections such as pneumonia.”

Kathmandu air pollution hits record high

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111156/636a367b9c7e80680e048310jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1875" height="1409"/><figcaption>Artist Ang Tsherin Shepa pictured with Ambassador Randy Berry. Photo: US EMBASSY</figcaption></figure>Under the US Department of State’s <a href="https://art.state.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Art in Embassies</a> (AIE) program, American ambassadors are loaned art works to display at their premises and residences as part of their country’s <a href="https://np.usembassy.gov/artists-in-residence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cultural diplomacy</a>.This includes US Ambassador to Nepal, Randy Berry, who had a broad range of choices and departed from his predecessors by including works by American artists of Nepali origin and from his own collection. No surprise, then, that the official residence of the US ambassador at Kamal Kunj in Kamaladi now looks like an art gallery.“I have always had one foot planted firmly in Nepal because of my previous tenure in Kathmandu,” Berry told a gathering on Tuesday. “This is a collection of art from Nepal and the US that resonates with me.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal art going places</a>, Kunda Dixit<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111156/636a36809c7e80680e048311jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="930"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Among the American artists, Berry is most attached to a landscape of distant mountains of Colorado painted from the back porch of his house. But his favourite is an impressionistic work, Cedar in the Foothills, by Birger Sanden.The embassy collection also includes two works of art by a father-son, master-student, Nepali-American duo. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/The-world-beyond-thangkas,3139" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Urgyen Dorje’s</a> classic thangka done in 1988 hangs on one wall, while opposite it is his son <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-craft-of-art/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ang Tsherin Sherpa</a>’s impressionistic take on traditional Tibeto-Nepali art. Ang Tsherin learnt thangka techniques from his father, but after attending art school in the US, started experimenting with more modern forms of expression that challenged the pre-determined style of devotional art. Now an American citizen, Ang Tsherin still carries with him the artistic influence of his childhood in Nepal.Two other items in the collection also show a cross-pollination of US-Nepali art. One is a shiny repousse Bhairav by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/review/mixed-media-exhibition-in-siddhartha-art-gallery,2732" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rabindra Shakya</a>, and on the facing wall is a modern take on the technique done by his American art student, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/maureen-drdaks-small-works/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Maureen Drdak</a>.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111156/636a36839c7e80680e048312jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Bhairav by Rabindra Shakya<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111156/636a36869c7e80680e048313jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Maureen Drdak's modern take on BhairavAlso on display is a replica of an Avalokiteshwara figure stolen from Patan in the 8th Century, which Berry says is included to draw attention to the stolen deities of Nepal that “need to come back home”.The public-private-partnership <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/business/artworks-displayed-in-Chief-of-Mission-Residence-in-Kathmandu%20,3003" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Art in Embassies</a> program strives to create cross-cultural dialogue and mutual understanding through the visual arts and artist exchanges. The program develops and presents roughly 60 exhibitions a year and has installed over 70 permanent art collections in the State Department’s diplomatic facilities in over 200 venues in 189 countries.

Sonia Awale

US-Nepali Art

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714114/6369029a9c7e80680e037c72jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="928" height="707"/><figcaption>Outgoing US Ambassador Alaina B Teplitz at NEF Talk on 24 July. Photo: ALAINA B TEPLITZ/ TWITTER</figcaption></figure>As I prepare to depart from Nepal after three years, I am faced with an excellent opportunity to reflect. I have visited over 40 districts, and witnessed Nepali citizens making great progress to recover from a devastating earthquake and restrictive blockade.  I have also seen Nepal adopt a new constitution, hold local and national elections, and successfully seat a democratically elected government.Nepal is at a point of tremendous opportunity, to transform its economy into a globally competitive, and in this transformation, the government, businesses, and ordinary people all have a role to play. But first, Nepal must answer a basic question. Will Nepal continue as it always has, or will Nepal make a transformational jump to an economy of the future?Nepal’s economy itself is currently an impediment to economic growth. It is small scale and with fundamentals not suited for the acceleration needed to reach middle-income status. Although Nepal’s nominal GDP is up almost $4 billion in the last year, the average per capita income is still just $850, the lowest in South Asia.Incomes remain low because sectors that are thriving, like agriculture and carpets, are low wage, low productivity, and low return sectors.  Further, remittances comprise approximately 30% of Nepal’s GDP, and an import-heavy, consumption-led economy continues to drive Nepal’s trade deficit higher and drain resources away from investment.Despite these realities, Nepal has huge potential to achieve more rapid and sustainable growth.  Nepal’s hydropower industry has an estimated 40,000 megawatts of commercially viable potential. The agriculture sector employs almost 66% of the population, and amounts to almost 29% of GDP.  The tourism industry is poised to become a powerful new addition to the economy. Although Nepal currently ranks 117th globally in terms of tourism as a percentage of GDP, foreign tourism in Nepal between January and June of 2018 is up 13% from last year.But potential alone is not enough to transform Nepal’s economy. Nepal has to tap into non-traditional, higher value, higher wage, export-focused sectors to break from the old mould.  New industries like commerce, information technology, creative industries, light manufacturing of components and electronics, and agricultural processing.According to the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report, Nepal ranks 105th in the world. Nepal must resolve numerous infrastructure constraints, and improve workforce competency to achieve this transformation.With a clear understanding of the current state of economic affairs, what specifically will hold Nepal back?In one word, risk. Nepal cannot hope to transition to a middle-income economy by 2030 if it does not address several critical risks that arrest its economy. First, Nepal must face corruption directly. Currently, the economy is hobbled by restricted markets, cartels and syndicates, and rent-seeking behavior patterns in both the public and private sectors.Second, Nepal currently has insufficient banking oversight, and provides limited access to capital. For example, borrowers have to produce $3.6 for every dollar borrowed as collateral.  The global average is $2. This is unacceptable and will continue to arrest meaningful economic growth if left unchanged.Third, Nepal continues extensive practices that result in the social exclusion of women and other groups. Numerous international studies relying on objective data have shown unequivocally that the failure to successfully and systematically bring women fully into the economy will retard the pace of economic growth.Finally, Nepal has an unattractive investment climate. The investment that does occur in Nepal is of the wrong kind that does not go to higher value sectors, it exacerbates corruption, and it continues to drive an import-led economy.Simply put, progressive, stable, and lucrative growth toward a middle-income economy depends on attracting both domestic and foreign investment and allowing for competitive innovation. So how does Nepal attract those investors?  First and foremost, by committing to having predictable, consistent, and enforced laws and procedures that are not based on subjective decisions and personal relationships.In addition, Nepal must commit to maintaining an independent free market, unrestricted by cartels. Government monopolies and sectoral restrictions only serve to crowd out investors who are already not attracted. This means the government must adjust its approach to a future of managing, rather than controlling, the market.Nepal must also adopt and enforce protections for intellectual property rights. It must make all processes affiliated with foreign investment streamlined, transparent, and accessible: improve regimes for registration, taxation, and licensing of new businesses created by foreign investment. Immigration and visa processes, policies, and proceduresmust remove unnecessary and cumbersome barriers for foreign investors.But recognition of badly needed reforms is not enough. The reforms implemented must transcend the merely adequate in order for Nepal to be globally competitive. The Foreign Investment Act, for example, is an opportunity to set Nepal up to be not merely competitive in the global economy, but to be a progressive participant and leader of the economy of the future.  Though the draft legislation contains many admirable points, if it is to be an effective vehicle for attracting foreign direct investment, it must adopt several critical improvements.It must provide for automatic approval of foreign investments based on clear and objective criteria.  Removing barriers to entry is the first step in convincing foreign investors to enter a new market. The legislation must ensure foreign investors’ access to capital markets. Without clear access to capital markets, foreign investors will be wary of investing heavily in high-value sectors. It must facilitate reinvestment in existing business, because the true value of attracting foreign direct investment arises when that foreign investment begins to facilitate perpetual and self-sustained domestic business. It must allow for unlimited repatriation of foreign investment and earnings. FDI will not exist in any meaningful way if the investors cannot repatriate their earnings.The legislation must also outline predictable and dependable dispute resolution and arbitration processes, allowing for international dispute resolution. Foreign investors will not spend money in Nepal if they know that their ventures will not be protected by predictable laws and international business norms. Finally, the legislation must eliminate problematic restrictions in key areas, like agro-business and e-commerce.Nepal has several key advantages upon which to build: low unemployment, manageable debt, available resources, and low spending habits. In fact, Nepal has an established practice of not spending all of its available budget! Nepal can, and should, take full advantage of any opportunity to tie itself into the growing regional economy of South Asia. Perhaps one of the strongest attributes of Nepal is the willingness of a wealthy donor community to engage in developing Nepal’s self-reliance, specifically in terms of enhancing sustainable economic growth and improving the investment environment.  Nepal must remember, though, development assistance is not about dependency; it is about sustainable and inclusive independence.The new government brings great potential for political and policy stability, as well as the time to implement policies that no other government has seen in Nepal in a generation.  So far, the new government is saying the right things.  It is recognising the need to increase foreign investment, stem the reliance on a remittance-supported, consumption-led growth model, protect intellectual property, and expand infrastructure and regional connectivity. But we still need to see a concrete manifestation of the government’s words.  Mostly, I am hopeful because of the creativity, innovation, and ingenuity of Nepalis, who see the potential of the country and are playing an active role to realize it, despite all the challenges.Nepal must not only envision the economy of the future but also create an environment for a transformational jump. The government has a role to play to draft, pass, and implement reforms, while keeping its own rent-seeking and control-impulses at bay. The private sector and ordinary citizens also have an obligation. Only a multi-faceted, consultative approach will push Nepal toward its goals of a prosperous, progressive, and self-reliant economy of the future.Excerpts from speech by outgoing US Ambassador Alaina B Teplitz at NEF Talk on 24 July.

Business as usual, or transformation?

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

Nukes in the neighbourhood

The streets of Patan are alive this month with lavender jacaranda trees under rain-washed skies as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-red-god-rises-again-in-patan">the chariot of Rato Matsyendranath</a> is pulled across town. This is the festival of the rain god, and inevitably the heavens opened up and pre-monsoon showers pelted the chariot as it started being pulled in Pulchok last week. Thousands of devotees, onlookers and the chariot procession organisers thronged the streets on the first day last week. The rhythmic cymbals and drums exuded a vibrant energy as the enormous four wheels turned and the chariot lurched.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025051007050_81df97744db16f732a419dc1f1579d235ce3df37642b078f50b83bd4bd026688.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025051007050_81df97744db16f732a419dc1f1579d235ce3df37642b078f50b83bd4bd026688" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1503" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  The<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Red-rain-god,3141"> red rain god</a> has Hindu and Buddhist antecedents, alternatively called Bungadya and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-gravity-defying-chariot-festival"> Karunamaya</a> — reflecting Kathmandu Valley’s syncretic mixture of the two religions.&nbsp; “Bungadya is a profoundly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/12-full-opinion/marketing-the-intangible">intangible form of heritage</a>,” explains heritage expert Monalisa Maharjan. “It embodies traditional knowledge,<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/reviving-nepal-s-craft"> artisanal skills passed down through generations</a>. Local communities and specific families have specified roles in being custodians of the heritage, ensuring their survival over the centuries.” There are many legends and stories about this annual tradition. Lichhavi king Narendra Dev is supposed to have brought Rato Matsyendranath from Assam to Kathmandu Valley to convince Guru Gorakhnath to lift a spell that created a two-year drought in Kathmandu.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250510050520_347a9a398f8a9abc4a7fb4e2774fde8264cccbdce8bdab23851ab3f0e73c3e8a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250510050520_347a9a398f8a9abc4a7fb4e2774fde8264cccbdce8bdab23851ab3f0e73c3e8a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1503" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  Matsyendranath was Gorakhnath’s mentor, and upon seeing him, the serpents were released, unleashing the rains. The chariot festival honours the return of this life-giving rain. The deity is seen as an icon for thriving agriculture, t<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/before-the-next-monsoon">he arrival of monsoon</a> showers, and the welfare of the community. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-reign-of-the-god-of-rain">The reign of the god of rain</a>, Vidhu Prakash Kayastha Till this day, the Rato Matsyendranath festival is no ordinary celebration. Patan does not sleep for a month as the chariot is pulled through various neighbourhoods. It unfolds at a state level with the president (formerly the king) attending the climax of the Bhoto Jatra in Jawalakhel later this month.&nbsp; The intergenerational transmission of tradition is unique in the world, and the reason the festival is one of the most vibrant cultural expressions that thrives despite inroads of modernity. The other unique aspect is that it is a transnational festival, binding Patan with Guwahati in the Indian state of Assam.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025051005058_8bc685ada13045d863b28e3eed91c931da2b510714586af6fd7eb5d1e298a24a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="2025051005058_8bc685ada13045d863b28e3eed91c931da2b510714586af6fd7eb5d1e298a24a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1503" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  “Unlike Nepal, where the deity commands grandeur and devotion, many in Assam are unaware of Rato Matsyendranath,” says Khagen Sharma of Gauhati University, which convened <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-assam-connection-revived">a symposium in February in Guwahati on the rain god</a>. Attending was a delegation led by Lalitpur Mayor Chiribabu Maharjan, organisers of the festival, and builders of the chariot. After the symposium, a committee was formed to explore and revive the tradition in Assam as well. Although the team had planned to visit Nepal this month, logistical challenges delayed the trip. Still, there are plans to build a Guru Matsyendranath statue in Assam to reestablish regular worship practices in the Guwahati shrine.&nbsp; The vines used to build the chariot in Patan are sourced from the jungles of Assam. But Sharma notes that in recent years unclear regulations have blocked the official import of the vines, although they are still brought to Nepal informally. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/makers-of-machhindranath,2204">chariot making</a> has also had a taste of modernisation in recent times. In the past, even a single nail or piece of steel was avoided. But over time, the wooden structure, particularly the shaft between the wheels, has been replaced with bronze. When that too proved unstable, metal clamps were introduced, which have become a pragmatic compromise.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250510050524_b2a819a5791612f14c81d30fc393dbd3f99f0c64b90a9110e8b0855d944bfa93.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250510050524_b2a819a5791612f14c81d30fc393dbd3f99f0c64b90a9110e8b0855d944bfa93" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="998" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  Another welcome change is the focus on safety. Builders climbing the chariot’s tower now wear harnesses and there are efforts in crowd control. The most visible change in recent years has been the involvement of Patan’s enthusiastic youth in the festival — the tradition is now passing to a new generation. Says Matsyendranath expert Vidhu Kayastha: “There is more energy, the young people in red t-shirts this year were very organised, these modern touches aren’t diluting our culture, they’re keeping it alive in new forms.” He adds, “We are <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/searching-for-a-homeland-away-from-home">reconnecting with our roots</a>, we have more resources, more awareness than ever before. We must not be swept away by western values that may not serve us, and in some ways, cause more harm than good. We must revive our own culture.”&nbsp;

Divine chariot

In 2025, two seemingly disconnected acts of violence shattered the illusion of stability in the region. In March, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/16f7f947-1e96-4206-9844-891378adc683" target="_blank">militants hijacked a passenger train</a> near the Bolan Pass in Balochistan, executing soldiers in cold blood. A month later, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/world/asia/kashmir-terrorist-attack.html" target="_blank">gunmen in Kashmir’s</a> Pahalgam Valley massacred tourists. 
In both Islamabad and New Delhi, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/25/were-cursed-kashmiris-under-attack-across-india-after-pahalgam-killings" target="_blank">the reaction was reflexive:</a> condemn the violence, <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/04/22/india-and-pakistan-could-come-to-blows-over-kashmir" target="_blank">blame external enemies</a>, declare the situation contained. But South Asia’s leaders are not fighting terrorists alone. They are fighting the consequences of their own betrayals.
Across <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26272897" target="_blank">Balochistan</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-11693674" target="_blank">Kashmir</a>, <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/india/346-finding-way-out-festering-conflict-indias-manipur" target="_blank">Manipur</a>, and beyond, decades of <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/projects/enforced-disappearance-in-south-asia/" target="_blank">enforced disappearances</a>, broken promises, and brute militarisation have hollowed out the social contracts meant to hold these nations together. The grievances that drove rebellions from the 1940s through the 1990s – demands for dignity, recognition, and political agency – were never meaningfully addressed. They were buried beneath asphalt and propaganda, paved over by development projects and security checkpoints.
States may claim victory. But their victories are mirages, dissolving the moment anyone looks too closely. South Asia’s unfinished wars are not relics of a violent past. They are live ammunition, loaded into the future.
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/24/he-only-wanted-revenge-the-bloody-insurgency-in-balochistan-gaining-lethal-momentum" target="_blank">Balochistan</a> has been at war with Pakistan for most of its modern history. Rich in gas, minerals, and coastline, the province has been plundered for decades under the language of national development. 
Projects like the <a href="https://eastasiaforum.org/2020/11/26/pakistans-three-evils-cpec-and-good-governance/" target="_blank">China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)</a> promise progress but deliver exclusion: minerals are mined, ports are secured, but Baloch homes are raided. 
The insurgency endures not because of foreign conspiracies, as Islamabad endlessly insists, but because the Pakistani state remains incapable of seeing its <a href="https://thebalochistanpost.net/2025/01/enforced-disappearances-in-balochistan-in-december-2024-tbp-report/" target="_blank">Baloch citizens</a> as anything other than a security problem to be managed.
In <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ranisingh/2016/07/12/kashmir-in-the-worlds-most-militarized-zone-violence-after-years-of-comparative-calm/" target="_blank">Kashmir</a>, the Indian government claims to have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/world/asia/kashmir-village-defense-committees.html" target="_blank">“normalised” the valley</a> after revoking its autonomy in 2019. It <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-between-india-and-pakistan" target="_blank">looks a lot like occupation</a>. Soldiers outnumber local leaders, dissent is criminalised, internet shutdowns suffocate public life. Tourism campaigns and investment summits cannot erase a generation raised under curfew and surveillance.
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-66260730" target="_blank">Manipur’s descent into ethnic bloodshed</a> in 2023 exposed another fault line Delhi prefers to ignore. Long-simmering tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities erupted into violence that shattered any illusions of northeastern integration. The central government’s delayed, politicised response made clear what many Manipuris had always suspected: they are citizens of India only when convenient.
Even the <a href="https://msf.org.au/rohingya-worlds-largest-stateless-population" target="_blank">Rohingya, stateless and exiled from Myanmar</a>, find themselves entangled in South Asia’s ethnonationalist calculus. Fleeing genocide, they are criminalised anew in Bangladesh and India – trapped between the countries that reject them and the memories that refuse to let them go.
South Asia’s states have excelled at suppressing rebellion. But failed at extinguishing the reasons rebellions rise in the first place. And the wars South Asia tries to forget at home have found new life abroad.
Across <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-17/modis-indian-government-accused-of-spying-silencing-critics/103974414" target="_blank">Canada, Australia, Britain, and the United States</a>, diasporic communities have become memory-keepers and, increasingly, <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/khalistan-supporters-hold-protest-outside-indian-consulate-in-vancouver-123092600087_1.html" target="_blank">the agitators</a> for the struggles their home states would rather erase.
Khalistan flags fly outside Indian consulates in Vancouver and <a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/perturbed-over-waving-of-khalistani-flags-at-an-event-in-melbourne-india-warns-australia-of-khalistan-separatists-and-their-links-with-terror-groups-458320/" target="_blank">Melbourne</a>. Tamil activists march through London, demanding accountability for the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/19/grim-reminder-sri-lankas-tamils-mark-15-years-since-end-of-civil-war" target="_blank">massacres in Mullivaikkal</a>. Kashmiri protests in Washington and New York refuse to let India’s crackdown slip into diplomatic amnesia.
For host countries, these movements pose uncomfortable questions. Freedom of expression collides with fears of extremism. Clashes erupt between communities carrying wounds that their new homelands.
Meanwhile, South Asian states pursue their adversaries across borders. India faces allegations of <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/canada-says-india-home-minister-ordered-campaign-against-sikh-activist-rcna177972" target="_blank">targeting Sikh activists for assassination in Canada</a> and the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/10/27/g-s1-29561/sikh-separatist-assassination-india" target="_blank">United States</a>. Pakistan continues to court Kashmiri separatists abroad while crushing Baloch dissent at home. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sri-lanka-tamils-civil-war-dead-5b372b0bba567837c5a4d94250040e7d" target="_blank">Sri Lanka</a> lobbies furiously to brand Tamil diaspora organisations as fronts for terrorism, even as it stonewalls investigations into its own wartime atrocities.
The old insurgencies have not been defeated. They have been globalised. South Asia’s governments have long mistaken silence for stability.
In Punjab, India broke the back of the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/06/india/india-canada-sikh-khalistan-analysis-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">Khalistan insurgency</a> through brute force. The fields grew green again, the trains ran on time. But the wounds were never closed, the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/why-is-indias-khalistan-separatist-movement-on-the-rise/a-65081729" target="_blank">movement’s heart beats</a> not in Amritsar but in Brampton and Surrey.
In Sri Lanka, the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/4738983/The_Man_Who_Destroyed_Eelam" target="_blank">military crushed the Tamil Tigers</a> with <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/17/death-of-the-tiger" target="_blank">overwhelming brutality in 2009</a>. <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3264148/we-want-our-children-back-sri-lankan-families-still-demanding-justice-their-missing-loved-ones" target="_blank">Tamil families still search for their missing</a>, still mourn their dead – and still organise across the diaspora for justice that remains undelivered.
In Kashmir, Delhi boasts of new <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/2/4/kashmir-is-bleeding-its-economy" target="_blank">highways and investment corridors</a>, showcasing the region as a trophy of unity. But when the visitors leave and the cameras are packed away, <a href="https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-134/from-domicile-to-dominion-indias-settler-colonial-agenda-in-kashmir/" target="_blank">the checkpoints, the raids, and the quiet despair remain.</a>
Victory parades fade. Grievance endures. Suppressing insurgency may end battles. It does not end the ideas that fueled them. In a region where <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/world/asia/kashmir-attack-india-pakistan.html" target="_blank">history is rarely past</a>, and memory is rarely voluntary, states that rule through repression are only ever buying time. And often, not very much.
South Asia’s unfinished wars are not accidents. They are the inevitable consequences of states that confuse conquest with consent, and erasure with reconciliation. They cannot legislate memory out of existence.
Every <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15qyyzz89lo" target="_blank">disappeared son in Balochistan</a>, every <a href="https://medium.com/the-wvoice/the-half-widows-in-kashmir-fef80c6b88e9" target="_blank">half-widow in Kashmir</a>, every <a href="https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/focus/rohingya-refugee-crisis" target="_blank">refugee child born stateless in a Rohingya camp</a> carries forward the memory of betrayal – a memory that outlives soldiers, politicians, and peace accords alike.
The region’s future will not be decided by GDP figures or infrastructure projects alone. It will be decided by whether its governments can summon the political courage to face the truths they have long suppressed – or whether they will continue down a path <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-is-using-the-g20-summit-to-further-its-settler-colonial-ambitions-in-kashmir-205166" target="_blank">where forgetting is demanded</a>, and rebellion becomes inevitable.
Shyam Tekwani is a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii. This <a href="https://dkiapcss.edu/nexus_articles/ghosts-at-the-border-south-asias-unfinished-wars/" target="_blank">article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://dkiapcss.edu/security-nexus/" target="_blank">DKI APCSS Security Nexus.</a> The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of DKI APCSS, the Department of Defense, or the US Government. The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) of the linked websites, or the information, products, or services contained therein. DoD does not exercise any editorial, security, or other control over the information you may find at these sites.

Balochistan to Kashmir

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

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