Children in quake-hit Sindhuli falling ill due to cold

SINDHULI, Jan 2: Seven-year-old daughter of Nirmala Rana, a local of Kapilakot VDC in Sindhuli district, has suffered from pneumonia several times in the past few months. She has been trying her best to protect her daughter from harsh cold, but she said it is impossible to avoid it as the family has been living in a tent since the devastating earthquake of April 25 ravaged their home.

"I make my daughter sit near a fire for at least two hours every evening. But she keeps falling ill due to extreme cold," said Nirmala.


The locals of the VDC do not have easy access to health care. They have to walk almost 60 kilometer of rural roads to reach Khalanga for treatment.

The house that got destroyed in the earthquake was built two years ago with the hard-earned money Nirmala's husband had brought by working in Malaysia for three years. Now, they are uncertain when they will be able to rebuild the house that protected them from biting cold, scorching heat and heavy rainfalls.

Similar is the plight of Ganesh Hayu, a local of Ratatar village in Bhimeshwar VDC. "We cannot protect our children from cold. Not just mine, most children in the village are getting sick due to cold as we have been staying in flimsy tents," he said.

Ganesh said that he had heard that the government would distribute warm clothes to them. However, he expressed doubts that they will actually receive it. "Mostly, children are hit hard by harsh cold. They are suffering as weather gets colder each passing day" he said.

Most parents said their children start coughing and getting sick especially after evening. Another local, Shreejana Hayu said she is worried all the time about saving her children from cold. "Each morning, we awake wet due to dewdrops and fogs. If we don't dry our blanket and cloths during daytime, we have to sleep wet at night," she added.

Quake victims of Ratatar village have been living in makeshift shelters built of tarpaulins and corrugated sheets. The local administration has failed to take steps to alleviate the suffering of the quake victims.

Chief District Officer Bashu Prashad Kafle claimed that warm clothes would be distributed in every VDC within a week. "We have already allocated funds for buying warm clothes. The victims will get warm clothes within a week," he said.

Twenty-five VDCs of the district were highly affected by the earthquake that destroyed over 42,000 houses.

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Photographs of Sindhuli on display