Distribution in Laharepauwa, north of Kathmandu in Rasuwa district. Credit: Caritas Nepal
Last fortnight’s deadly 7.9 magnitude earthquake killed 54 people in the remote village of Laharepauwa, north of Kathmandu in Rasuwa district. The quake touched everyone.
Most villagers lost almost everything, they could not even salvage their cooking pots and other key household materials. Their houses demolished to the ground instantly in front of their eyes.
One part of the village is inhabited by Sherpas. “We fear to work in the field as jolts are still continuing 14 days on,” one Sherpa woman said.
Living under the shade of a tree is now too much. “Sir we need a plastic one,” she said. She means a tarpaulin to provide shelter and protection for the variable weather conditions. The villagers can’t stop thinking about what they lost in earthquake, but the upcoming monsoon is already a massive headache for them.
According to the Rasuwa Village Development Committee assistant, Shekher Bhushal, at least 95 houses are destroyed.
Thirty out of the hundreds of households of Laharepauwa has migrant workers in the Middle East and Malaysia. Some of them raced back home to be with their families in this tragic situation.
Unfortunately, Arjun Biswakarma, 35 had no chance to see the faces of his families before their funeral. The earthquake claimed his wife and two kids while he was sweating in the desert of Qatar.
“It’s hard but I have to console myself that I am not the only victim here” – he wiped his tear.
Another migrant worker, Kajiman Thing lost his house and wife who was eight months pregnant.
Due to a lack of opportunities and development in their villages, 35,000 to 40,000 Nepali men and women are forced to migrate to countries in the Middle East and to Malaysia as migrant/domestic workers every month.
According to Third National Living Standard Survey (NLSS III), 56 percent of households have at least one family member working in another country; mostly unskilled. Some say, there are probably equal numbers of undocumented Nepali working in India. Migrant workers send the money they earn back to their families.
Goma Bhatta, a young mother aged 24, lost her 4 year-old daughter, livestock and house. Just three months back her husband migrated to Malaysia for a job. Now, he has to pay 3200 Malaysian Ringgit to his employer to terminate his contract to return to grieve with his family. He can’t. There is no other option apart from waiting for the next 20 months until he can be reunited with his wife.
“I feel helpless, I still have one more child with me, and I don’t even have something to cook with – says a helpless woman waiting for her migrant husband, she said. “If my husband was with me, he probably would have some plan, I feel very helpless.”
Caritas aid reaches families of migrant workers. Credit: Caritas Nepal
Rural communities are difficult to reach in Nepal at the best of the times. Extra hazards such as the increase in trucks and large vehicles and damaged infrastructure compound the complexities and delay progress. On my trip to Rasuwa, our contingent passed through two consecutive accidents in the same spot while on the way back we observed wild fire in two places.
With 80 percent of Nepal’s women, men and children living in rural areas, it will take strong coordination and long-term partnerships and commitments to meet the nationwide short-term high demand of shelter and the long-term needs of recovery and rehabilitation.
“Living out in open field for more than two weeks now, I can’t think anything at the moment; today we live but tomorrow is dark – however the arrival of Caritas gives us a little hope,” she said.