Apart from these two, around 450 locals of the village thronged the school premises with hopes of receiving some relief.As per the national census of 2011, there were 526 houses in Selang VDC and these later increased to 634, VDC Secretary Rishi Ram Bhattarai said. 56 persons lost their lives in the VDC during the earthquake and they are yet to ascertain the number of injured. "A majority in the VDC are from the Tamang community, with agriculture as the major occupation," he said adding, "Hardly a single house is standing and the ones that have not collapsed have developed major cracks."
Karki was in his house when he felt the earth shaking and scrambled for safety, leaving his two-storey house behind to collapse. "I lost 10 goats, a buffalo and a cow," he said. His elder son, who has also been rendered homeless by the quake, had moved out after getting married many years ago while the younger son is in the Nepal Army. "My younger son visited a few days after the quake and built a temporary shelter with leaves for me," the octogenarian said.
The village suffered famine some 45 years ago. From then on, people started storing away grain. Many houses had stored rice, maize and paddy, which are now somewhere under the earthquake debris and unfit for consumption or for sowing as the grain become mixed up with livestock carcasses.
With their meager earnings from agriculture, rebuilding the village is a far cary for Sedang locals. The majority of youths from the village are working abroad, leaving behind elderly parents. As the entire village has turned into rubble, the locals cannot find neighbors to assist in the rebuilding or to make financial contributions.
Some families are left with only two members. Hiru Silwal, 40, lost her husband and daughter in the earthquake. She and her nine-year-old son Ajay survived with broken arms. They are undergoing treatment at Civil Hospital, Baneshwar.
Some INGOs and NGOs like the Lutheran World Federation and Choice Nepal have been supporting the village with food, tarpaulins and sanitary kits. The VDC has also bought rice to distribute among the villages, using the budget of Rs 900,000 allocated to each VDC by the government. "We need some more tarpaulins as the rainy season is fast approaching and chances of further natural disaster are high," said Nirmal Basnet, a local, adding, "We have not even been able to provide one tarpaulin per family."
The villagers are still spending their nights in darkness as the power mains are yet to be fixed. A proper cell phone network is also to be reestablished and the only means of staying informed is Radio Nepal. The local FM station has ceased transmissions as the earthquake knocked out the tower.
The announcement of Rs 200,000 as compensation for each family that lost its house has failed to impress locals. "What can we expect from the government that took a week to reach us with a few kilos of rice," Silwal lamented. He said that despite the compensation, speedy rebuilding of the village will not be possible as there are no youths available for the reconstruction.
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Reconstruction daunting for Selang village
