Jajarkot landslide victims face hardship in makeshift shelters

Nayana Rokaya, a 45-year-old mother of a one-month-old son, described the harsh reality for landslide victims in Jajarkot, Nepal. Eight days after a landslide destroyed her home in Risang, she and her family are sheltering in a local school building.

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We get cooked meals only in the morning and evening, but there is no provision for snacks or other nutritious food. My baby keeps breastfeeding, but a mother needs to eat properly to produce enough milk. It breaks my heart to see my son hungry, but there is nothing I can do.

"We get cooked meals only in the morning and evening, but there is no provision for snacks or other nutritious food," Rokaya said. "My baby keeps breastfeeding, but a mother needs to eat properly to produce enough milk. It breaks my heart to see my son hungry, but there is nothing I can do."

Her husband, Bhadra Bahadur, struggles to care for his wife, their infant son, and their 15-year-old son, who has been feverish for days. Their partially damaged house, which they had moved into after an earthquake three years ago, was further buried by the landslide, preventing them from retrieving essential belongings like food grain and clothes. Water leaks through the tarpaulin roof of their temporary shelter, making sleep difficult.

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When it rains, water leaks through the tarpaulin and we cannot sleep. When the rain is heavy, water pools on the floor. We have spent two or three nights awake.

Rokaya is one of 251 people displaced by landslides now sheltering at Tribhuvan Basic School. Ward 2 chair Bhim Bahadur Karki reported that six new mothers and five pregnant women are among those housed there. While women, children, and the elderly are inside the building, men sleep outside under tarpaulins. Karki noted that the crowded conditions and poor sanitation increase the risk of infectious diseases, with many suffering from colds, fevers, diarrhea, and headaches. Health workers are deployed at the school around the clock.

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Keeping so many people in such a small space is causing health problems among the displaced. Poor sanitation also increases the risk of infectious diseases.

Sujata Khadka, another displaced resident, expressed her despair. "There is no certainty about food, accommodation or even where we will sleep. How long are we expected to live like this?" she asked, highlighting the uncertainty and hardship faced by the victims.

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There is no certainty about food, accommodation or even where we will sleep. How long are we expected to live like this?