Nepal earthquake victims struggle to stay warm as mercury drops

Jajarkot [Nepal]: Kaushila Khadka, who has been living in a relief camp along with her husband after her house was damaged in the earthquake on Friday night, is trying to keep her two-month-old infant warm to protect him from the cold.

“The condition has worsened in comparison to the day after the earthquake. The house where we were staying got damaged and we had to get out. A rented room where we lived hasn’t sustained that damage,” Khadka told media.

Khadka has been relying on the blankets given to her by their relatives and cousins as the relief from the authorities has failed to reach her.

“The baby has just turned two months; earlier two days were feeling cold but since last night we got some extra blankets which has helped to keep us warm. Sister brought on some clothes for the baby because of which the cold decreased,” the newborn child’s mother said.

Though the government started focusing on the relief operation from Sunday, women, children, and the elderly are still facing the threat of the cold.

Inadequate distribution of relief materials which focus on the urban areas of the impoverished district has increased fear of health risks to the vulnerable population.

The 2,230 square kilometre district has a population of 1,89, 360. It has a women population of 50.3 per cent while the male population stands at 49.7 per cent as per the census of 2021.

The district also has high mortality of children and elderly people in the latest earthquake which so far has claimed 105 lives.

The epicentre of the November 3 earthquake, Jajarkot so far has recorded damage to 937 houses while the authorities are still conducting surveys to assess the true extent of the damage.

Those displaced now are sheltering under a tarpaulin which has now become a new home for them and for the time being, is shielding them from cold, however, the worst is yet to come.

“Problems are slowly rising, due to the chilling cold we have stomach aches, and we don’t have proper clothes to wear as all our clothes are buried under the rubble. Also, there is no proper bed to sleep on and blankets to use,” Laxmi Giri one of the displaced living in a makeshift relief camp told media.

The elder sister who has to look after her elderly parents and younger siblings is worried about the upcoming days as her house was flattened and her old parents are prone to the impact of the cold.

“Obviously there is a feeling of fear as we don’t have any house to live in but aunt’s house has given us some hope,” Giri added.

In relief camps set in open places across the district, covered only by sheets of tarpaulin with temperatures 10 degrees Celsius and below at nighttime, the displaced scramble together in the camp to keep warm and surround the elderly and those prone to the cold in order to shield them.

Hari Bahadur Basnet, President of Nepal Red Cross Society, Jajarkot Branch told media, said, “Now the elderly, children and pregnant-post-partum women have big problems. During the ongoing relief operation blankets and tarpaulins have been given utmost preference in distribution to protect them from cold. But many of the families have permanently lost their residence and their clothes buried beneath the rubble.

In that case, they should be provided with warm clothes and nutritious food. We have seen some children, elderly and post-partum women not having sufficient food to eat. So the relief operation should focus firstly on protecting them and the focus should be shifted to warm clothes.”