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Nepal earthquake: A year on, fear is the key

April 25, 2016 08:53 IST

A year after the worst earthquake in Nepal's history struck at four minutes to midday on April 25 last year, its residents still live in fear.
M I Khan reports from Nepal.

IMAGE: A broken home in the aftermath of the quake. All Photographs: M I Khan

A year after the devastating earthquake, nearly as powerful as half an atom bomb, struck Nepal, there are still visible signs of its impact as evident by the debris that lies around.

Scattered debris in narrow lanes, piles of rubble, splintered trunks and houses falling apart stand silently a year after a 7.8 magnitude quake struck Nepal on April 25, 2015.

IMAGE: An elderly woman narrates her experience during the quake.

Sugma Shrestha, Tshring Sherpa and Ram Bahadur Khadke are homeless and have lived in thin tents or huts made from metal sheets and bamboo for nearly a year after the earthquake.

"We have no option other as the government is yet to construct our homes," says Sugma Shreshta.

IMAGE: A makeshift lavatory built by UNICEF workers.

"It is full of misery, pain and full of uncertainty," says Sherpa, elaborating on the survivors' tough existence after the quake. "We are fighting to survive."

About 149 families live in the tents or huts hardly a few metres away from the Sunkoshi river behind the busy Sindhupalchowk bazaar.

IMAGE: Life goes on as many homes barely hold themselves together.

According to Nepalese government records, nearly 9,000 people died in the earthquake. More than 900,000 homes were damaged.

The government says work on rebuilding nearly a million damaged houses and heritage sites destroyed in the earthquake is underway.

IMAGE: Improvised roofs are the only refuge for many Kathmandu residents.

"We want to construct strong buildings if the government provides us help," says Ram Bahadur Khadke, a quake survivor.

"Houses built of stone masonry -- stones mortared together, without cement and steel rods -- collapsed like cards," he adds.

IMAGE: Scenes of such reconstruction are common a year later.

"Any sound or anything unusual creates panic, " says Dilmaya Sherestha, 86. "People live in fear though a year has passed."

IMAGE: Medical camps in faraway parts of the largely mountainous country.

"We are yet to overcome the fear, it is the truth," says Ratna Choudhary, who works at Nepal Radio.

IMAGE: An elderly man sits outside a temporary shelter in northern Nepal.

"Many people in the rural areas," she adds, "have shifted to safer places, either at the bottom of mountains or hills or at near the road side, 100 to 150 metres from a steep slope."

M I Khan in Nepal