Thumbu Ghale of Kispang Rural Municipality in Nuwakot district was living in his house when the first tremor of earthquake hit on 25 April 2015. The disaster severely destroyed their house leaving Thumbu and his wife buried under the rubble unconscious. They remained unaware of the catastrophe and its consequence. They also did not know several of their relatives and neighbors were killed. One of their son-in laws living in Kathmandu reached there on the third day and somehow rescued them. Villagers and their son-in-law had thought the earthquake killed Thumbu and his wife too. “I later knew that the villagers kept me in the tent together with other dead bodies. When the villagers were getting ready to begin death rituals of our bodies, one of my neighbors noticed two of us were still alive, then he shouted”, recalls Thumbu with full of tears in his eyes.
Few hours later, a helicopter airlifted them together with other injured people, to Bir Hospital in Kathmandu. Thumbu says, “I gained consciousness after two days following my admission in the hospital but my wife became partially conscious only after five days.” The Government and some of their relatives helped them throughout their treatment in the hospital for two months. Then, relief support organizations sheltered and provided food to them in a temporary camp in Rasuwa district. He recalls, “Those organizations saved us in camp in Rasuwa for two months before we went to Nuwakot because of survival hardships in Rasuwa due to the proximity of our camp to a water stream. That is when some DS members visited us and asked several questions. We provided all information and documents as they request.” With the documentation preparation support by CSRC, 27 families including Thumbu got NPR 200,000.00 to purchase land in safe place.
All 27 families including Thumbu were able to purchase 0.25 hector of land together in Jagate Tole of Bidur Municipality in Nuwakot district, which they later plotted equally among themselves. Thumbu explains, “CSRC team visited us again to help in collecting credentials required to claim house construction grant from the government. Later, we also received NPR 300,000.00 each from the government.”
Finally, 27 households were able to build safe house together in a safe location because of facilitation support from CSRC. Some of the family members are now working in others’ farm on sharecropping basis.
