Young men are leaving Nepal. Who are left to rebuild quake-hit homeland?

English.news.cn
Dec 8, 2015
2 min read

Ficture: An old man with a child in his arms sits near his damaged house in Nuwakot, Nepal, Dec. 6, 2015. About seven months after the devastating earthquake in Nepal, thousands of people are still struggling in temporary shelters with miserable conditions. (BY Sunil Sharma)

Dec. 8 Some 9,000 people were killed and many more lost their homes when an earthquake hit Nepal in April. But with more than 10 percent of Nepalis population having left to work abroad, labor force is scare to rebuild the mountainous country, BBC reported.

"It's not only about the money," says Sabin, a wiry looking 25-year-old who is back home from his job in Qatar for the first time in two years. "So many of the men have gone away there's no-one left here now to repair the earthquake damage and build the houses. No-one to do the pipes, the electricity - they're all gone."

Picture: A couple work to build a new house in a village of Bhaktapur near Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, on June 20, 2015. Houses for those villagers whose residences were destroyed in the earthquake of April and its aftershocks are badly in need in Nepal since the monsoon season has begun.

More than 3.5 million Nepalis that's well over 10 percent of the population of this mountainous, underdeveloped country -- have left to work abroad over the past 20 years. Now, more than 1,500 leave every day on average.

Most of them are young men like Sabin. "Look around - do you see what you don't see?" he asks. "No young men - they're all in Malaysia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai - everywhere but here."

Picture: A girl walks towards a temporary shelter with her brother on back at an army pavilion in Kathmandu, Nepal, June 2, 2015.(Pratap Thapa)

Remittances from workers overseas are vital for Nepal's economy. Most people live on less than 2 U.S. dollars a day. The country's struggle to fight its way out of poverty has been difficult. A 10-year civil war which ended in 2006 has been followed by an extended period of political instability.