Nepal quake victims fear not getting enough aid ahead of winter, politicians accused of ‘hijacking’ issue
- Residents are afraid the cold might kill many more people if they do not receive warm bedding and enough food
- An ex-finance minister has reportedly diverted aid to his constituency, prompting an official to accuse politicians of trying to exploit the issue
And as temperatures plummet, survivors like Rokaya worry that the tarpaulin sheets and blankets they received from the government as part of an aid package, as well as dwindling food supplies, will not be enough for them to survive the bitter cold.
“The tent gets cold and damp at night, and I am concerned that my little children and elderly mother might get sick,” said the 29-year-old from Barekot Rural Municipality, near the quake’s epicentre of Ramidanda. “We also don’t know how much we can stretch the few kilos of rice we received as aid.”
The 6.4 magnitude earthquake, which struck close to midnight, left more than 26,000 houses in Jajarkot, Rukum West and Salyan districts completely damaged. It was the most powerful tremor to hit Nepal since the 7.8 magnitude quake killed nearly 9,000 people and injured thousands of others in 2015.
Scattered relief
Nepal is situated in a highly active Himalayan seismic zone. A 2019 study warned that western Nepal had not experienced a large tremor for the past 500 years and the seismic gap could “potentially trigger a great earthquake” in the near future.