Quake victims abandon aid-built homes

By Sujan Kafle,Charikot, Apr. 26: It has been 10 years since  the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, 2015, with its epicenter in Barpak, Gorkha. 

Among the 14 hardest-hit districts, Dolakha suffered significant damage, especially from the powerful May 12 aftershock. Many families reconstructed two-room houses with government aid, and some upgraded them with concrete roofs. However, many of these homes now remain locked and abandoned.

The large yards in front of these houses are now covered with weeds. Verandas and balconies are beginning to crumble. They seem to be waiting for their owners to return, but more and more people continue to leave the villages each day.

Traditional stone houses are disappearing, just like the villagers themselves. According to Narayan Khadka, Chairman of Tamakoshi Rural Municipality-4 in Malu, many houses that were built with aid are now empty. 

Although some villagers invested in permanent concrete and metal-roofed homes after their traditional stone-made houses collapsed in the quake, people have been gradually deserting the houses in search of better facilities.

Khadka said that most earthquake-affected families built homes with government grants, but now they live in Kathmandu. Despite development of infrastructure, including drinking water systems in the villages, people have been migrating to cities seeking better opportunities, leaving behind empty houses. 

He added that the village feels deserted. This is not only true for Tamakoshi Rural Municipality but for other villages in the district as well. 

As youths migrate abroad for work and families move to towns in search of better amenities, villages are losing both youths and children. This has created a growing crisis, including abandoned homes, barren fields and a decline in cultural traditions, leaving elderly villagers increasingly worried.

Binod Tamang, Chairman of Bhimeshwar Municipality Ward No. 7, said that outmigration from the village has increased rapidly. He said this is not just limited to his ward but is a trend across entire municipality. Despite investments in agriculture, education and roads, people are leaving the villages. 

Tamang said that even when parents built homes in their children’s names after being listed as earthquake victims, the children never returned to the village. The responsibility of guarding empty homes has now fallen on the old parents.

After the earthquake, better transportation and income from remittances triggered a wave of concrete house construction in rural areas. As more cement houses were built, traditional stone houses began to disappear, and thatch-roofed houses nearly vanished altogether.

Even the integrated settlements built after the quake are now in abandoned condition. For example, in the model integrated settlement in Panipokhari, Bhimeshwar Municipality-1, out of the 57 houses built, most are now locked.

Across the district, 73,425 beneficiaries were identified. Of them, 65,222 beneficiaries completed their houses and received the third installment of the government housing grant. Around 8,000 people who received the first and second installments left their houses unfinished. Many of these homes are locked as their owners migrated to elsewhere.

Even though local governments have invested in roads and other infrastructure, the outmigration has not slowed. After the earthquake, modern school buildings were constructed throughout the district, but the student enrollment rate has been decreasing every year. 

Families of migrant workers are also moving to district headquarters or other urban centers for their children’s education, leading to a steady drop in enrollment rate at community schools in rural areas, according to locals.