A square raised to the ground after the earthquake in Nepal. Photo: Hilmi Hacaloğlu

A massive earthquake in the Himalayan country killed thousands. But as Ramesh Shrestha explains, there is hope emerging from beneath the rubble

Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, was a Mecca for hippies in the 1960s and 70s, where smoking pot was as cheap as breathing air. It was the city to which Cat Stevens dedicated his famous lyrics, “I sit beside the dark; Beneath the mire; Cold gray dusty day; The mornin’ lake; Drinks up the sky; Kathmandu, I’ll soon be seein’ you; And your strange bewilderin’ time; Will hold me down”.

The city traces its roots back to the third century, when the Licchavi dynasty started building their settlement in what we know today as Kathmandu. However, it was the Malla Kings who built the three cities of Kathmandu Valley (Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur) during the 11th century. It is a country where Hinduism and Buddhism have coexisted seamlessly with their own cultures, languages and ways of life.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake which struck Kathmandu on April 25, with its epicentre some 80km west of the city, destroyed the majority of the city’s monuments and religious relics, constructed over centuries. It has claimed the lives of more than 6,000 people so far, with many, many more unaccounted for. More bodies are expected to be recovered from the rubble as fallen buildings are slowly cleared.

The quake destroyed buildings and infrastructure in 20 districts, making hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Survivors are now in desperate need of necessities such as drinking water, food, shelter, cooking gas and medical supplies to treat injuries.

Nepal’s neighbours and a number of Western countries have come forward with aid for the emergency relief efforts. But given the scale of the devastation, reconstruction and rehabilitation work is going to be a challenge for perhaps decades to come. The assistance required by Nepal will come in two phases. First is the relief phase – which is ongoing – and the second will be reconstruction of much of the country’s infrastructure.

Nepal is a land-locked country with just one international airport, and just one highway connecting Kathmandu with the outside world. Many of the Nepalese are subsistence farmers, and their way of life has changed little over the centuries.

Only about 12 percent of Nepal is flat land, with the rest being high hills and mountains – most famously, Mount Everest. The catastrophic damage to infrastructure has considerably hampered efforts to reach the villages around Kathmandu, many of which have been completely flattened by the quake.

The rudimentary infrastructure, Nepal’s agriculture-based economy and the fact that the country is land-locked has kept its development aspirations in check. But for now, Nepal has to recover from this calamity, and judging by the resilience and determination of its people, it most certainly will.

 Ramesh Shrestha is a national of Nepal. He has experience in international development for over thirty years including in countries in conflict such as Iraq and Yemen and countries in transition such as Myanmar (Burma).