It was a nightmare journey for the five trucks and two tractors full of
relief supplies to get to Chimchok, close to Ree VDC in north Dhading.
Punctures and breakdowns beset them, and the “roads” were terribly
treacherous, little more than tracks in many places. A journey that
should have taken five hours took eight.

Plek Tamang, his wife
Kanchhimaya and daughter Purnima walked for three hours from their
ruined village of Latab to meet the UMN convoy and get some relief
supplies. When the trucks didn’t come until late at night, they spent
the night in the open with several hundred others who had come for the
distribution. They said it was worth the wait – each family received
lentils, sugar, dry noodles, salt, spices, tea, oil and rice. What they
really need is a tarpaulin, and more rice – these will be arriving this
week.

In Latab, the villagers report, half of the 87 the houses
fell down during the first quake, and the others in the next one. Out of
575 people, only two were killed, for which they are grateful. As the
earthquake came around midday on a Saturday, most people were outside in
the fields. Like so many others, this family is living from day to day.
They don’t want to make plans, but know that with the monsoon coming,
they will need to find adequate shelter soon. Some people from their
area are already migrating down to the district headquarters, where they
hope they will be safe from landslides during the wet season.

To
earn a little extra money, Kanchhimaya and her daughter make dokos –
the woven baskets used to carry loads in rural Nepal. There’s likely to
be quite a call for their skills in the next few weeks!