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Readying to Rebuild

Earthquake Recovery in Nepal's Kaudi Village, Phujel VDC, Gorkha District

By Anna Stirr

August 21^st, 2015

after the earthquake

On April 25th, 2015, a powerful earthquake struck Nepal, centered in Gorkha district. Subsequent earthquakes centered in Dolakha on May 12, 2015, and numerous aftershocks, caused further damage and loss of life.

Maya Gurung is a Nepali folk singer who lives part-time in Kathmandu and part-time with her husband, a lawyer and politician, in Sankhuwasabha district in eastern Nepal. Her home village of Kaudi in southern Gorkha district was badly damaged, though fortunately all villagers survived. With money raised by the Madison Zen Center in Madison, Wisconsin, Maya and I returned to Kaudi with her mother (also named Maya) to see how we could best help the community.

The Damage

Many houses looked all right from the outside, but inside, the ceilings and walls of upper floors had collapsed, and structures had begun to lean so some doors and windows would not open or shut. Walls made of mud and fieldstone were cracked and weakened, some partially collapsed.

Maya's family house

Maya’s mother was continuing to use the first floor and the porches of her house for storage and daily work. They cooked in an outdoor kitchen. The Red Cross had provided new pots and pans to each household in case their kitchens had collapsed, but Maya’s family and many other households in Kaudi were lucky to have escaped losing many of their belongings.

Shelters

Sleeping in the damaged houses was dangerous. Initially after the earthquake, Maya’s mother, sister-in-law, and nephew had slept in their water buffalo shed. After the arrival of some relief organizations, families built shelters in their yards with zinc sheeting and tarps provided by the Nepal Red Cross, DFID, the local government, and other groups involved in earthquake response like Phujel native Bishu Maya Pariyar’s Empower Dalit Women of Nepal (EDWON). Maya and I slept in this one with Maya’s mother, and after we left, neighbor girls took turns keeping her company at night. Villagers are already making plans for working together to rebuild each other’s houses.

bajai

Bajai, which simply means “grandmother” here sleeps on the porch of her house, under a mosquito net. The widow of a man who fought for the British Gurkhas in World War I, she was said to be 107 years old the day Maya and I reached Kaudi. Everyone had hoped she would live out the monsoon, and had she lived until the winter, the British Army would have rebuilt her family’s house. But the next day, the monsoon rains arrived, and Bajai passed away as their welcome cool winds blew through the village. She was quickly buried at Graveyard Hill according to local Gurung custom. Her pae or funeral ceremony will be held later, after the rains, in the winter season of rebuilding and celebrating the cycle of lives.

growing new hopes

By the buffalo shed that provided shelter in the early days after the earthquakes, Maya and a cousin planted a rudraksha (Eye of Rudra) tree, one of three sprouts Maya brought with her. “These are your retirement fund!” she told her mother, anticipating that when they begin to bear fruit, the seeds used to make Hindu prayer beads may fetch over a thousand dollars a year. That would be enough to cover many of the ordinary expenses of village life, and give Maya’s mother a little money of her own.

madison zen center donations

The money donated was given to the local Mother’s Group, an association for community development run by the adult women of the village. We discussed with the Mother’s Group about how best to use the money, and as a result, it was split three ways: one part to Maya’s widowed mother, one part to another widow with five school-age daughters, and one part for the mother’s group itself, for them to use on behalf of the whole community. We presented the money with the usual Gurung ritual: a tray containing offerings of flowers, leaves, coins, raw rice, and a small oil lamp, meant to ensure that the gift will bring blessings to both the givers and receivers. Afterwards, we celebrated with local raksi alcohol, and much talk of rebuilding plans.