KATHMANDU, Jan 12: Najiullah Miya runs a small tea shop at Jhingate of Asrang VDC, Gorkha district. His house at Dumri-Swnara was destroyed by the April earthquake. His family has been living in a makeshift hut, and the earnings from the tea shop are hardly enough to make ends meet. He used to cultivate some land and the harvest would feed the family for at least six months. However, the earthquake has changed the equation.
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“We did not cultivate much in the last rainy season. We were shattered by the quake damage. Surviving the crisis was the most important thing and we rushed to collect the relief materials. We now worry about what we are going to eat as the flow of relief materials is drying up,” said Najiullah.
Jalalluddin Miya and Yusuf Miya of the same village bought warm clothes for their children and some quilts with the winter relief of Rs 10,000 provided by the government. However, they spent most of the money on food.“Everything is so costly. Market prices have gone up. We had no choice but to use the winter allowance for food,” said Yusuf.
Parbati Bhattarai of Pandrung VDC in the same district has some land. But the single woman, who has to look after three grand children, did not cultivate the land this year. One of her daughters and son-in-law left the children with Parbati and went out of contact since the last five years.
When we reached Kusunde of Muchchok VDC last week, we fouind Phanindra Raj Dawadi busy threshing paddy with his oxen. The headmaster of local Tarachandra Secondary School was using a holiday for harvest work. But the village is in no better shape than Asrang and Pandrung.
“Only a few families, who felt that life must go on despite all difficulties, cultivated the land. But we were unable to cultivate all our land,” said Dawadi.
“Some people were so shaken by the earthquake that they did not care about any cultivation at all while some others thought the relief materials would keep on coming. The harvest has certainly decreased,” said the headmaster.
As per government officials, the country is expected to see a rice deficit of 809,218 tons for the fiscal year. This could add to the difficulties of the quake victims and ultimately of the country itself.
