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 The Nepali government is struggling to provide shelter for more
than a million people like Sherpa who were uprooted by two massive
earthquakes, first on April 25 and then 17 days later.
Tens of thousands are sleeping in the open, with monsoon rains
possibly little more than a fortnight away.
"I lost everything – my house, tea house and all that I owned. I am
a refugee in my own country now," said the 28-year-old, one of about
120 people who made the 110-km (70 miles) trip from Tatopani, a
village on the Chinese border, to the town of Thali near the
capital, Kathmandu.
Sherpa said he left his village after the second quake triggered
landslides that left almost no space for shelter.
"We don't have any place to go and this is not enough when it starts
raining," said Sherpa, who shared the cost of the blue-and-yellow
plastic sheet with three other families.
Parts of Nepal have returned to relative normality since the quakes.
Shops have reopened in Kathmandu, farmers are back in their fields
and power lines are being reconnected.
 But families such as Sherpa's making do under plastic sheets are a
visible reminder of how much authorities need to do almost
a month after the first quake struck. More than 8,600 were killed in
Nepal's worst natural disaster on record.
Aid organizations worry about the possible spread of disease and the
risk of further displacement in a country ill-equipped to help those
most in need.
Nepal's government has raised $70 million of the $200 million it
needs to give shelter and medical help to see the homeless through
the monsoon before more permanent reconstruction work can begin.
EXPOSED TO THE ELEMENTS
The situation in Thali is mirrored across dozens of settlements
throughout the Kathmandu valley and in Himalayan hamlets where the
ability of state and non-government aid groups to help will be even
more limited when the rains arrive.
"You will have villages that are completely cut off. The monsoon is
going to change the game," said Natasha Reyes, head of Medecins Sans
Frontieres' Nepal Mission.
She said downpours washing through camps could cause a rise in
diarrhoea and respiratory tract illnesses, as well as cutting off
remote areas from further help.
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"These people are exposed to the elements. The pressure is really
on," she said.
Working out of a tent in the grounds of the quake-damaged central
government complex, the man in charge of the rescue and relief
operation said a government fund would provide each homeless family
with two bundles of corrugated iron roofing to build structures that
can better withstand the three months of downpours that begin as
early as June 1.
However, Nepal can only produce 8,000 bundles a day, said National
Planning Commission vice-chairman Govind Raj Pokharel. It also lacks
the diggers, excavators and cranes needed to clear rubble and make
space for better temporary housing.
"Our production is limited. We need to procure from neighboring
countries. We have approached them for help," Pokharel said.
Back in Thali, residents help new arrivals draw water at the school
under overcast skies. The school has told them they must be off its
land by the time it reopens at the start of June.
Kumar Pariyar, 85, arrived on Monday. Visibly weak, he said Thali
was the fourth place he had been moved to since last week's quake
destroyed his house.
"I came here because my relatives are here. But I don't know where
to go as everything I had was destroyed in the earthquake and
landslide. Maybe I have to live here until I die," he said.
(Additional reporting by Ross Adkin and Gopal Sharma; Editing by
Frank Jack Daniel and Paul Tait)
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