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Quake and aftershocks taking toll on children

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Ramesh Khatiwada/Republica Earthquake victim Thami children of Godung in Lapilang VDC-5 of Dolakha district pictured Sunday.
By No Author
DOLAKHA, May 11: Of late, six years old Madhura Thami of Lapilang VDC of Dolakha district has not been able to sleep properly as she screams and wakes up in the middle of the night more than once.

Each time, her mother wakes up along with her and calms her back to sleep.

After their three-story house collapsed in the devastating earthquake of April 25, the family has been using a shed as their temporary shelter.

Madhura, along with her elder sister, Alisha, spends her day around the shed looking dejected and shaken."Not just my children but every child in the village has been traumatized by the earthquake. Even mild aftershocks send them rushing toward their parents," said Durga, the mother. "My eight-year-old son, Mahendra, refused to stay here and went to live with his grandparents in the next village fearing possible landslides," she added.

Her son's fear, however, is not unfounded. The village, located along the bank of Gumu River, is at high risk of landslides after recent rainfalls.

With their schools closed due to the destruction caused by the earthquake, they have not had much opportunity to divert their minds from the trauma left behind by the disaster.

"Our school was completely destroyed. Where are we going to study now?" asks Madhura, who is a first-grader at the local Gujerpa Primary School.

According to Amrit Bahadur Thami, a local, the children used to play at the nearby Sunakhani-Shangba road section on normal days. "Many have not been able to step on the road after the quake. The whole incident has had a huge negative effect in their psychology," he said.

Eight-year-old Sudhakar Thami, a third-grader at a local school, was playing on the road along with his friends when the quake struck. "The ground started shaking badly," he recalled. "Every house in the village started to fall apart. The earthquake continues to shake our temporary shelter."

"I'm afraid that my children might suffer from mental illness," said Durga. "All they do is stare blankly at the debris of nearby houses. With their school closed, it is even harder to make them forget the earthquake," she added.

District Education Officer, Lok Bahadur Lopchen, said they are preparing to erect temporary structures to run classes by May 15, as has been directed by the government. According to him, 105 schools in the district have been destroyed by the mega-earthquake.

Child refuses to enter home

In Jiri bazaar of Jiri district, eight-year-old Adityesh Jerel has been refusing to enter his home since the quake. Although his mother cooks at home, she has to bring the food outside to feed her son.

"He has been unwilling to enter home. Although the other members of the family eat inside, we need to bring food outside and feed him," said the father Chakra Jerel. According to him, the third-grader gets frightened and screams from time to time.



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