Story of death, destruction and resilience: A look into Nepal's heart and soul

The Nagarjun Hills and the Jamacho Gumba (the white spot below the clouds) with the urban outcrop in the foreground, a day after the rainstorm.  

A day after the World Environment Day (https://www.worldenvironmentday.global/), rainstorm lashed several parts of Nepal, leaving at least two dead and around 100 injured, once again reminding how vulnerable this country is to natural disasters, especially climate change-induced ones, despite its negligible carbon footprint.

The urban jungle of Nagarjun municipality shines, a day after the rainstorm.

The vortex of this disaster to hit the ill-prepared country appeared to be Dhangadhi of Kailali district where the casualties have occurred and scores of people have become homeless with thatched and zinc roofs of their houses blown away, according to media reports. 

As always, the disaster caused power outage not only in Dhangadhi, a township in Far-Western Nepal, but also in parts of Kathmandu, the capital and the nerve centre of the federal secular republic perched between the two most populous nations with huge carbon footprints -- China and India (https://qz.com/india/1581665/indias-carbon-emissions-growing-faster-than-us-china-says-iea/).  

For a country shaken by the massive Gorkha Earthquake (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nepal-earthquake-of-2015) and most recently by windstorm in several Terai districts like Bara and Parsa (https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-bara-parsa-wind-storm/) with significant loss of life and property, the fresh disaster seems to have shown how weak its disaster resilience remains to date, with many of the victims in Kailali and the neighbouring district of Kanchanpur living in tents and local authorities working till “late into the night to provide for them”, as a media report put it, quoting a local official.

Swayambhunath (the Monkey Temple), the crown jewel of Kathmandu, after the rains washed away dust and smog.

Worryingly, despite these spell of disasters, governments of different hues and colours, including the recent one with nearly a two-thirds majority in the Parliament, seem to have learnt nothing when it comes to minimising loss of life and properties as well as post-disaster management, spending precious time and national resources in fulfilling petty interests instead. 

With the nature of the state not changing much despite 'epoch-making political changes' (in course of a decade, Nepal has turned into a federal secular democratic republic from a multiparty democracy with constitutional monarchy) that have served foreign interests at the expense of Nepal's national interests, communities mostly rely on each other to rebuild lives as most of the funds that I/NGOs spend in the name of poverty alleviation and uplift of backward communities does not trickle down (https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/some-are-more-equal-than-others-in-nepal/.) 

Things seem to be normalising in Kathmandu a day after the June 6 disaster, with smog gone from the city, power supply restored and weather at its best, offering mesmerising views of snow-clad peaks and verdant hills. Here are some of the pictures from the city that's become a synonym for antiquity and modernity. Enjoy!

Text and pictures: Devendra Gautam