Mica K.C.

On 17 July and 18 July 2015, Habitat for Humanity Nepal distributed 500 temporary shelter kits to earthquake-affected families in Pedku Village Development Committee, including the village of Khatri, Sindhupalchowk district, Nepal. To date, HFH Nepal has distributed more than 2,000 temporary shelter kits in Sindhupalchowk, Gorkha, Dhading and Kavre districts. Related photos are available on the Asia-Pacific Disaster Response Portal. Interviews were conducted on 17 July and 18 July 2015. All photos by Habitat for Humanity Nepal/Sonny Krishnan and Sameer Bhattarai.    

  

Mica K.C. 

Mica K.C. (right) helps out her 90-year-old neighbor Hasta Kumari Khatri (left) by providing food sometimes.  Mica K.C. (Khatri-Chhetri ), or Mica  “Didi”, a Nepali word for “big sister”,  gave a big smile  upon receiving a temporary shelter kit from Habitat for Humanity Nepal.

 “Now I don’t have to worry about the heavy rain soaking my bed, making it very hard for me to sleep at night. No more raindrops on my body! Thank you Habitat,” Mica, a 50-year-old widow, said excitedly.

The magnitude-7.8 earthquake on 25 April had badly damaged Mica’s stone-and-mud plaster house in Khatri village,  Pedku Village Development Committee, in Sindhupalchowk district. She had to take shelter in an adjoining shack that is used to store harvested corn.

Mica is among 500 families who received temporary shelter kits that were distributed by HFH Nepal on 17 July and 18 July. To date, Habitat staff together with local volunteers and community members, have distributed more than 2,000 kits to families in the worst-affected Sindhupalchowk, Gorkha, Dhading, and Kavre districts. Items in the kits, which include corrugated iron roofing sheets, iron rods and coiled wire, can be re-used in the construction of permanent houses.

Sindhupalchowk bore the brunt of the earthquake’s impact. According to the Nepal government, more than 66,000 houses, or two-thirds of the households, were destroyed or damaged in the district. There is an urgent need for shelter, particularly at the peak of the monsoon season. 

Despite her own hardship, Mica is sharing her shack with another widow and her children from a nearby village. “I couldn’t sit here doing nothing to help this husbandless woman and her children. She and her children have nowhere to take shelter. I have space so they can stay here,” she said.   

Mica’s husband died in a traffic accident 11 years ago and her two grown-up children, aged 23 and 25, are married with their own families in Kathmandu, more than 200 kilometers from Khatri village. According to Mica, widows and elderly women have great difficulties in getting help from male members of their community. Female-headed households also face additional challenges during disasters. Apart from caring for their children and the elderly, women have to take on tasks that men could have helped with, such as clearing the debris, putting up the roof and hauling construction materials. “We women, who have no husbands, have to help one another,” said Mica.

The women’s mutual help extended to 90-year-old Hasta Kumari Khatri. Mica and several women got together to hire laborers and rent a truck to collect the temporary shelter kits including one for Hasta Kumari. They are also taking turns to provide food to the elderly woman.  

Hasta Kumari was out in the field, cutting grass to feed her cows when the ground shook violently on 25 April. She returned home to find it reduced to rubble. Hasta Kumari had to share a large tarpaulin with 300 others for nearly a month. “There wasn’t enough food and we often got very wet when it rained,” she recalled.

Mica K.C. (fourth from left, with white necklace) and women from her community are prepared to build

 temporary shelters by themselves if help from male members is not available.

Mica said: “I’m really happy to be getting the temporary shelter kit and I know my neighbors will help me rebuild my house. I’ve contacted my male relatives from neighboring villages to help us construct the temporary shelters, using the kits distributed by Habitat. If they are too busy to help us, we ourselves will build them and pool our money to employ laborers for the heavy work.”

Notes:

Photos of Mica K.C. can be found in the Asia-Pacific Disaster Response Portal > NEPAL: Earthquake (April 2015) > Photos > 17-19 July 2015 - Sindhupalchowk 

For more information, please contact: Geno Teofilo, Media Relations and Disaster Communications Manager, Asia-Pacific, Habitat for Humanity International via GTeofilo@habitat.org, mobile: +63 905 669 5985