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Mithu Shrestha, 24, sustained injuries while absconding with her two children, a 3-month old and a 3 years old son out of the house safely when the devastating earthquake of 7.8 magnitude hit the country on April 25.

Her younger son was getting an oil massage at the first floor while the elder was playing, when the house started shaking. Recalling the moment she said, “It was horrible, the house started shaking, I took both of them and tried getting down from the stairs. It got scarier, as the house stopped shaking and the walls started to fall. I don’t know how I managed to get them out. I am glad that even though I sustained injuries, they were safe”. The fear doesn’t end here for Mithu, as she is concerned about her children’s health. “I have been trying my best to feed them and meet the nutritional requirement, but we are surviving on the relief aids. I don’t know how we will manage in the days ahead as we don’t have shelter and other basic necessities”, she added.

Shobha Shrestha, 21 whose 4 year old daughter got diarrhoea last week expressed similar concerns. She said, “I am feeding whatever is available, it is difficult. She has not been eating properly and her health might deteriorate. As monsoon is approaching my fear has risen even more”.

Shoba anxiously looks on with uncertainty of future and concern about her child

After the devastating earthquake, only about 20 houses of the total 496 are standing strong in Gairibisauna, Deupur VDC wards no 3,4,5 of Kavre district. After the disaster the locals of have been sleeping under the tents and temporary houses. The only thing that can be seen in the beautiful village is the debris of the houses. When the earthquake was hit, one person died but many people were rescued alive from the debris by the locals.  Many cattle died while some were saved.

Devastating scenes of houses destroyed in ward number 4 of the VDC. A television set is seen among the debris.

Seti Neupane, 52 recalls the moment, “I was sitting with my family when the earth started to shake, we anyhow managed to flee but we couldn’t save our goats. In the first week we were even forced to sleep under the open sky with empty stomach. It was difficult very difficult”.

The people were lucky as the health post was not damaged and the service wasn’t halted. After few days, the locals got some relief materials including tent. The locals expressed joy on getting some relief materials but are worried for a longer term as resettlement is a difficult task. They even expressed fear as the village is said to have a problem of drinking water as well as sanitation. The locals are using water purifier to avoid water borne diseases. But that’s not enough, as the toilets have also been damaged along with the houses. Some have built a temporary one but many are still defecating in the open, which has increased the risk of many diseases as monsoon is approaching. Few cases of diarrhoea, common cold and vomiting have been reported especially among children.

The children of the village are still said to be traumatised. Rajesh Purakutti, 12 shared the experience of his first day at school after the earthquake. “All my friends were scared just like me. We didn’t study. We learned about preventive measures that should be applied during earthquake. We do not want to study now, we want to play and have fun in the open so that we don’t remain scared”.

Rajesh, responding to queries posed by HERD relief team member, Kritagya Regmi

With reports on considerable damage of Gairibisauna Deupur, due to the earthquake, HERD team initially contacted with the Village Development Committee (VDC). The VDC had authorised a person as a relief coordinator who prepared the list of the affected. Based on the data provided, we prepared the relief materials. The relief materials included rice, lentil, oil, salt, chikpea and mattress to 250 households of wards 3, 4 and 5 of the VDC.

HERD team busy distributing relief materials for the Gairibisauna Deupur residents

Smile on the faces of the people after getting the relief materials is after all what we hoped for. It reminded us of how a small effort could give us great joy and meaning to life.