<figure><img width="2048" height="1364" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d05fb9c7e80680e0a5f3ajpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>There is breaking news every other day: the United States donates 2 million Moderna shots to Bangladesh and Pakistan. Denmark announces 250,000 AstraZeneca doses to Bhutan. Japan pledges surplus AZ vaccines to Sri Lanka and the Pacific Islands.Nepal is never in the news, even though <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lonely-wait-of-nepals-elderly-for-2nd-doses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1.4 million people still wait for their second doses</a> of Covishield AZ vaccines and another 20 million people need to be inoculated before a possible third wave this year. So far, Nepal has only been gifted or bought vaccines from India, China or the COVAX initiative. It has not even got 1 million vaccines from Serum Institute India that it paid for, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/no-vax-ask-for-mask/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">all other promises from western countries were never kept</a>.  Nepal’s vaccine diplomacy has failed miserably. And the only silver lining is that there are four million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm VeroCell starting next week to immediately inoculate its above 55 population.Nepal is still recording an excess of 2,000 new cases a day and is seeing a slight daily increase following the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kathmandu-covid-19-lockdown-relaxed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">relaxation in travel restrictions</a>. Everyone, the public and the government, seem to have forgotten that the real peak during the first wave last year took place only after the lockdown was eased.“The third wave is already on its way, our figures are going up and we must assume we will be hit by new variants,” says Buddha Basnyat, a physician at Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS). “We must vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible, if not we will get more difficult variants that are potentially resistant to the vaccines.”In other news, the Oxford Vaccine Group which developed the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine has found that administering two doses 44-45 weeks produced the highest antibody boost. This news, announced by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/im-sad-vaccines-are-delayed-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Andrew Pollard</a>, one of the developers of the AZ, is glad tidings for countries like Nepal where people above 65 are waiting for their second doses.Pollard said antibody levels remained elevated for close to a year with <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/ten-month-gap-between-astrazeneca-doses-sees-highest-antibody-boost-oxford-study/article35019890.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a ten-month gap between AZ doses</a>, as well as antibody levels twice that after the second dose among volunteers who were administered a third booster dose, pointing to a long-term, possibly life long immunity, also against variants.“This is great news for the elderly, many of whom are panicking, unable to get their second dose in the recommended time frame. The additional time the study has afforded us shouldn’t lead to complacency in our effort to procure vaccines,” says Sher Bahadur Pun, an epidemiologist at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital. <figure><img width="950" height="633" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d05fe9c7e80680e0a5f3bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Norway, Czech Republic and Denmark have unused AZ shots they want to donate to Nepal, but have been forced to go through <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/hope-hyperbole-and-hypocrisy-of-covax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">COVAX, which is unlikely to deliver</a> the doses before the end of 2021.On 1 July, Denmark announced that it would donate 250,000 vaccines to Bhutan. However, it is understood that these grants still need to be facilitated by the EU. Also in the news this week is the result of a new modelling study published in the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s medical journal Eurosurveillance that further strengthens the link between <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/despite-doubts-nepal-sticks-with-astrazeneca-jabs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AZ vaccines and a rare blood clot</a>.The study models four months of a vaccine distribution strategy in France from May 2021 and concludes that using AZ on the entire adult population would avert 10 deaths from Covid among 18-39-year-olds. However, it would be associated with 21 deaths from blood clots in the same age group over the same time period. In other words, <a href="https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40328123.html?type=amp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">clot risk to younger people from the AZ vaccine</a> is twice as high as Covid death risk. But public health experts in Nepal maintain that the benefit of mass vaccination still far outweighs the risk. “Similar studies in the context of the South Asian population are needed but as it is, transmission risk of Covid is much higher than the individual risk of blood clots here,” says epidemiologist Lhamo Yangchen Sherpa.Buddha Basnyat of PAHS concurs: “The UK with over half of its population fully vaccinated is now being hit by the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covids-regional-threat-needs-regional-response/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">delta variant</a>, although it has been largely spared from severity due to the mass inoculation. Nepal being mostly unvaccinated is unprotected both from transmission and severity. This should show us where our priority should lie.”The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control finding about clot risk therefore could indirectly be a blessing in disguise for countries like Nepal by further freeing up AZ stockpiles in Europe, as well as Korea and Japan.Even so, blood clot risk has prompted leaders including Germany’s Angela Markel to opt for Moderna as a booster shot to her first dose of AZ jab.Several EU nations including Germany have said mix-and-match doses are safe for Covid prevention, which according to new findings also point to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57636356" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a better immune response</a>. This could also offer much-needed flexibility when vaccine supplies are uneven or limited.“We need to introduce mixing and matching also in Nepal in the face of more virulent delta variants, particularly for the elderly who are at the higher risk of developing severity from an infection, instead of waiting endlessly for Covishield,” says Basnyat.At a time when Nepal is yet to recover from a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-real-cost-of-nepals-second-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">devastating second surge</a>, only an equitable vaccination strategy will prevent an even more deadly third wave. But a mere 2.6% of Nepal’s population has been fully vaccinated, and less than 9% has received a single dose of either Covishield or VeroCell shots.  <figure><img width="1594" height="898" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06009c7e80680e0a5f3cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>And even the doses are unevenly distributed within the country. More than half the first dose of VeroCell was distributed in Bagmati province, according to the government’s own figures. Moreover, 97% of the booster jabs of VeroCell were used only in Bagmati Province. “We are seeing a similar kind of disparity in vaccination that we saw in testing, concentrated in urban centres and in particular Kathmandu,” notes epidemiologist Lhamo Yanghen Sherpa. “The excuse for using most of the doses in Kathmandu is that people elsewhere refused to inoculate. If that’s the case what is the government and others doing to dispel vaccine myths?” Virologist Sher Bahadur Pun says the government should immediately deploy its 60,000 or so <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/enlisting-female-health-volunteers-to-fight-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">female community volunteers</a> and healthcare workers who have historically done such effective work in non-Covid childhood vaccination drives.He adds, “They are spread across the country and are best placed to communicate the significance of vaccines and increase vaccination uptakes at  local levels.”

Sonia Awale

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Vaccines too little, too late for Nepal?

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5649c7e80680e096705jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="947" height="1500"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Countries across the world are using technology to organise, manage, prevent and track Covid-19 rates, while Nepal has fallen behind in the pandemic app race.China, being the first country to contract Covid-19, was naturally first off the mark to launch a ‘<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.mobileeventguide.healthcode&amp;hl=en_US&amp;gl=US" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">health code</a>’ app nationwide. Installing the app was made mandatory by the government, and while many labelled it a breach of privacy and part of China’s state surveillance system, it was also the only effective way to control the virus across a wide population.The app directed people to stay indoors, report their travel history and share knowledge of any symptoms they may be experiencing. Each user then received a coloured QR code to indicate their infection status: red for those considered infected by the virus, yellow for those who may have come into contact with a Covid-positive person, and green code for those who seemed fine and virus-free. Public spaces could only be accessed with a green QR code, to ensure that a Covid-positive individual doesn’t enter, say, a shopping mall and endanger others.India followed China in its contact tracing app (CTA) strategy and method when Prime Minister Modi’s office set up a committee to guide and quickly launch the ‘<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nic.goi.aarogyasetu&amp;hl=en_US&amp;gl=US" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AarogyaSetu</a>’ app. AarogyaSetu is Sanskrit for ‘the bridge for liberation from disease’.It was pretty clear that the Indian government was activating a robust PR campaign around the app as soon as it was launched on both Android and iOS app stores. Indian celebrities such as national cricket captain Virat Kohli and Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn endorsed the app via video clips requesting citizens to safeguard themselves from getting infected, The app crossed 100 million downloads and broke Pokemon Go’s record of being the fastest growing app ever.It has been one year since the app came into mandatory practice, and now airports, malls, clinics and local businesses ask Indian citizens to show their AarogyaSetu app to report their Covid status before they come into contact. As in China, the app uses the green-if-negative and red-if-positive simple <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/business/china-coronavirus-surveillance.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">colour-based communication</a>.The app is not based on prediction but strives for accuracy in reporting. In major cities like Mumbai, the government sends a home testing medical team to test members of households, and if their report is positive, it automatically updates their Covid status on the app, which is linked to their Aadhar Card (government-issued ID).In the United States the federal government did not launch an official app or impose any mandatory rules to use CTAs. Instead, local governments collaborated with Apple and Google to develop regional apps relying on Bluetooth technology, but only for those who wish to use it. These apps ensure user safety by promising not to store personal information on their servers. A survey revealed that roughly 39% of US citizens supported or accepted the use of CTAs to control the pandemic, compared to a whopping 80% in China, indirectly suggesting that the Chinese have more trust in their government institutions than the Americans.Unlike these large economies that developed quick action digital tools under tight timelines, Germany came up with the ‘<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.rki.coronawarnapp&amp;hl=en_US&amp;gl=US" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Corona-Warn-App</a>’ months later, without any rush, taking its time to tackle possible data privacy issues. The download of the German app is voluntary, and it is designed to respect people’s privacy by not permanently storing personal information.Iceland launched its ‘<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=is.landlaeknir.rakning&amp;hl=en_US&amp;gl=US" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rakning C-19</a>’ last April, being the country with the highest penetration of any CTA in the world (40% of Icelanders were adopting apps). However, the Icelandic Covid response team claimed that the app alone did not result in high impact. Manual tracing techniques like phone calls were more effective and required alongside the digital tool.Iceland and a few other European countries have been proponents of free but responsible movement, trusting the citizens to follow guidelines without requiring hefty fines that force them to conform. Sweden, however, has flatly rejected the idea of an official tracking app, despite having more Covid-19 cases than neighbours Denmark and Finland.Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and other West Asian countries have rolled out CTAs with Bluetooth tracing, but Qatar has gone a step further warning that citizens who do not cooperate and install the app may face up to three years in jail.Bahrain set a record this year by being the first country with a CTA that allows users to book free vaccine appointments via the ‘<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=bh.bahrain.corona.tracker&amp;hl=en_US&amp;gl=US" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BeAware</a>’ app, even letting people choose between the Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinopharm vaccines. Bahrain quickly became the second mostst vaccinated country in the world after Israel.Here in Nepal, the government launched the ‘<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=np.com.naxa.covid19&amp;hl=ne&amp;gl=US" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hamro Swasthya</a>’ app to disseminate information about the pandemic. It is a collaboration between several IT startups and the Ministry of Health and Population to financially and technically support the government in developing an effective app.With over 300,000 app downloads and over 5 million site views, the app offers national Covid-19 updates, but not regional or local detailed information that would help people navigate their areas smartly. There is no guarantee of data privacy or any marketing campaign launched to promote the app’s usage.This lack of transparency and quality of software development is classic governmental mode of functioning. It is ticking the basic boxes and producing a low-cost, low-quality product that neither attracts nor engages the user with well-planned, well-designed communication.Hamro Swasthya is available in both English and Nepali, and the top feature is the Covid self-assessment test that is a questionnaire asking the user to fill personal information along with answers to questions about symptoms faced and recent travel (note: it does not ask for domestic travel history, only international) in order to make an educated guess on whether the user has contracted the virus or not.There is a section on plasma donation, with a form for both donors and those who require a blood donation. Another feature is the suspect report, where anybody can complain about anybody who they suspect is a Covid-positive individual. This feature is clearly not thoroughly thought out, as it can be easily misused.There is a nationwide map to guide people to the nearest hospital, but there is plenty of room of improvement regarding the UX/UI and information provided (lack of address and phone numbers). The best sign of a good app is how often it is improved and optimised. But as the government started rolling out vaccines, information regarding availability is missing in Hamro Swasthya.Saniaa Shah writes this fortnightly column, Tech-Away for Nepali Times. She runs Studio Aakar, a film production studio. Her marketing career helped her develop a keen interest in tech and digital culture.

Saniaa Shah

Tap, Track, Trace and Test

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd8cf9c7e80680e092e62jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4096" height="2731"/><figcaption>A health worker in Jumla administers Covidshield AstraZeneca vaccine to an elderly this week. Photo: LAXMI NGAKHUSI/UNICEF NEPAL</figcaption></figure>Over 1.6 million Nepalis have so far been inoculated against the coronavirus, all of them with the AstraZeneca vaccine that several <a href="http://‘The damage is done’: Europe’s caution over AstraZeneca vaccine could have far-reaching consequences" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">European countries have suspended</a> because of fears of blood clots.With a turnout of 65% of frontline workers, vulnerable groups and people over the age of 65, Nepal has completed the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-fights-infodemic-to-push-vaccine/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">second phase of its Covid-19 vaccination</a> rollout with the Covishield vaccine either donated or bought from the Serum Insitute of India.“We have managed to protect the groups most vulnerable to Covid-19 from the possible second wave,” Shyam Raj Upreti, head of the Government Covid Vaccine Strategy told Nepali Times. “The fact that there have been no serious side effects has increased the acceptance level of the vaccine among the masses and health practitioners themselves.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/its-not-over-yet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">It's not over yet</a>, EditorialHowever, reports of some EU nations, Thailand and other countries suspending the use of the AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine because of serious blood clots among some recipients may result in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/why-is-there-vaccine-hesitancy-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vaccine hesitancy</a> among the remaining population. Covishield is the brand name of the Indian-made version of AstraZeneca.Germany, France, Italy and Spain suspended the vaccine program , following in the footsteps of by Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Latvia discontinuing the vaccine earlier this week. Austria has temporarily paused the use of certain batches. Thailand is the first country in Asian nation to halt AstraZeneca shots.The <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/16/europe/who-astrazeneca-europe-coronavirus-tuesday-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">suspensions have baffled public health experts</a> who warn that there is neither enough data to justify the decision, nor evidence to blame the blood clots on the vaccine. It is especially worrisome because some European countries suffering their third wave of Covid-19 desperately need the vaccines.“To date, the vaccine has been safe in this part of the world, so its benefits far outweigh the risk,” said epidemiologist Lhamo Yangchen Sherpa, while cautioning that serious side effects should be monitored and their underlying causes studied.The suspensions in Europe, however, may be a blessing in disguise for countries like Nepal which have faced delays in shipments of AstraZeneca from India because of the rise in global demand. The price of the 2.2 million doses that Nepal had ordered from the Serum Institute also went up to $5 because of the shortage. It bought the first lot for $4 per dose.Nepal has approved two coronavirus vaccines for emergency use, Covishield AstraZeneca and China’s Sinopharm. So far, the government has only administered Covidshield and Nepali experts see no reason to discontinue the vaccine without a real causal link between AstraZeneca and the blood clots.With only about 600,000 doses in stock, Nepal needs to procure another 1.5 million shots if it wants to provide second doses starting from 20 April for those who inoculated in the first and second phases. Vaccine availability will also determine when the third phase aimed at people in the age group 55-64 age group will begin.“There is every likelihood that politics is involved in this decision to suspend AstraZeneca in the EU. We know that this vaccine is very safe, but it protects us from Covid and its more serious symptoms,” says Buddha Basnyat of the Patan Academy of Medical Sciences.Nepal has yet to receive another 1 million doses of Covidshield it ordered last month. Serum Institute of India was unable to deliver it on 15 March as expected. Similarly, Nepal received only 348,000 doses of Covishield vaccine under the COVAX initiative on 7 March of the promised 2.2 million doses. The next batch was not expected before May, but it could now be shipped earlier because of the suspensions.China, on the other hand, has increased its gift of Sinopharm vaccines to Nepal from 500,000 to 800,000 but there is a delay in procurement with Beijing insisting that Nepal send a plane to collect it .The shortfall in supply and procurement challenges have forced the Health Ministry to allow private companies to import other vaccines, including the Covaxin manufactured by Bharat Biotech in India.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-braces-for-new-wave-with-vaccine-drive/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vaccination drive</a> and fewer daily positive cases have given Nepalis a false sense of security. Youth are out and about, shopping malls, cinema halls and dance bars are crowded, schools and offices have stopped maintaining physical distance.At a time when neighbouring <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/its-not-over-yet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">India is experiencing a possible second wave</a>, public health experts say the public has to be even more vigilant and follow safety precautions. Even those who have been vaccinated must remember that they can still be a carrier.Lhamo Yangchen Sherpa’s advice is: “The pandemic is not over, we can’t let our guard down. Vaccinate if possible, increase testing and continue to mask up, wash hands and maintain distance.”

Despite doubts, Nepal sticks with AstraZeneca jabs

<img width="1556" height="1092" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636bea339c7e80680e087905jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>For over two centuries now, Nepal’s real 'frontline workers’ have been its soldiers who fought and sacrificed their lives in foreign soil for countries other than their own. The tradition continues, and is upheld by the Gurkha reputation for courage and ability to survive any hardship that is promoted in literature and art. Till the Malla period, it was unheard of for Nepalis to fight in foreign armies. In fact, it was the other way around: Kathmandu’s kings 300 years ago used to recruit soldiers from Telangana in South India and Afghanistan.It was only during the Anglo-Nepal war (1814-1816) that Nepalis started fighting beyond the country’s borders. Balbhadra Kunwar, who famously thwarted the siege of Nalapani Fort, joined the army of the Sikh maharaja Ranjit Singh. Even before the Sugauli Treaty ended the war, the British were already recruiting Nepali soldiers for the ‘Nasiri Paltan’ to fight against defending fellow-Nepalis. This went on to become the first-ever Gurkha brigade. Then on, ‘Gurkha’ soldiers have been fighting in many wars in different parts of the world to this day.Gurkha valour has always been interwoven with pain and death. But we do not hear much of that because most Nepali soldiers in those days could not write, and there are few testimonies of what they went through. It is only recently that censored letters by Nepali soldiers archived in Europe have thrown light on the pain and suffering in the trench warfare of France and Belgium, and prisoner of war camps in Germany, during World War I.A diary written by a Gurkha sergeant during the battle of La Bassée in northern France in 1914, and retrieved from his body by a German officer, Lt Alexander Pfeifer, has recently come to light.Just within the first five days of the start of World War I in July 1914, more than 15,000 British soldiers had been killed. Reinforcements arrived from British India, and among them were about 20,000 Gurkhas. Six hundred Nepali men were killed on a single day on 30 October 1914 in La Bassée. <img width="1182" height="388" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636bea369c7e80680e087906jpeg.jpg" alt="">Many of the censored letters and diaries of Gurkha soldiers at the British Library and Museum give us an indication of their suffering in the battlefield. Because they did not fit the narrative of Gurkha ‘bravery’ and would have affected morale, the letters were censored and never received by their families in Nepal.These testimonies were a part of the dissertation of Nepali historian Pratyoush Onta, who painstakingly transcribed the letters in the 1990s. They describe the incredible courage, but also the pain, homesickness, and the insufferable wet cold of the trenches during the European winter.Selected excerpts:Worry about me.This war is fierce. Five of my friends from the Fourth Double Company have been killed. From the Second Company, one-third of the soldiers have lost their lives. The Gurkha Regiment has suffered a huge loss. And for those of us who are still alive, the chances of survival look slim. • • • On 19 May 1914 at five in the morning, our Fourth Double Company was attacked. We were 400 feet away from the German trench. We loaded our rifles with bullets, and stuck khukris in our mouths and went over the top.  Of all the wars that I have ever fought in, this is the most ferocious. Many from my company were killed, but we were able to capture the German trench. Because I was shot in my right elbow, I couldn’t move ahead with my company. By god’s grace the bullet didn’t pierce my bones. I am now in London and recovering. I will soon return to France and fight a good war with those Germans and kill them, because they aren’t human. They use poison gas to win a war. • • • You have been asking me about this place. This is like the fire and the frying pan. When I return home, we can talk about this. I will give you all the details, but I cannot promise you if that day will ever come. I could have written about the conditions here, but we are not allowed to share details. Many of our letters are opened and are censored. If we write anything against the orders given, the one who has written the letter will be punished severely. Dear brother, you must be going through a difficult time in your battlefield, but I understand. We are also suffering the same anguish. Brother, it rains a lot here and it is muddy. It is extremely cold, too. • • •I took part in an attack on a German trench in August. I was injured and had little sense of what was happening. I was taken prisoner by the Germans and sent off to their country. They cut my leg in the prisoners’ camp. I was then hospitalised for two months in Germany and later sent to Britain. They have now received orders to send me to India.• • •This is your brother Bahadur Pun, sending you my greetings. If you have three or four rupees, please send it to me. Along with that, if possible, please send some food, something to drink and some clothes. Dhaniram Pun and I are now prisoners of war in Germany.• • •My mother often said, ‘Leave your job, son, and come back home. Work in your own country, or you will suffer’. I wish I had listened to her. Now when I think of it, my heart fills with regret. <figure><img width="1500" height="1001" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636bea389c7e80680e087907jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>सिपाहीको दु:ख, episode 1 of the tv magazine program Saglo Samaj</figcaption></figure>When the Germans realised that the British POWs spoke so many languages, they took this as an opportunity for linguistic research. They recorded the experiences of the Gurkha prisoners through their songs and folklore. Nepali researcher Alka Atreya Chudal at Vienna University has been given access to some of this material that includes early sound recordings of the Gurkha prisoners in Germany. Going through the archives at Berlin’s Humboldt Museum, Chudal found songs by Gurkha POW Jas Bahadur Rai that were recorded in 1915. Rai died seven months later, and his gravestone in a cemetery outside Berlin preserves the date: 3 January 1917. Although this was a model prison that the Germans used to show international inspectors, many Nepali prisoners succumbed to tuberculosis in winter.  “Jas Bahadur missed home, his songs and writings are a testimony to that, and more than 100 years later they have inspired me to do further research on the Gurkhas and their never-told tales of suffering,” Chudal says. <img width="1209" height="720" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636bea3b9c7e80680e087908jpeg.jpg" alt="">There is a possibility that the writings and items belonging to Nepal’s soldiers recovered from Europe’s battlefields will finally be returned to their homeland. With them, we will learn about the other side of the Gurkha saga — the stories of yearning, pain beyond measure, of loves and lives lost.  Based on the first episode of Saglo Samaj, a tv magazine program produced by Himalmedia which is broadcast every Monday, at 8:30 pm on Dish Home Channel 130.

Tales of courage and suffering

<img width="1556" height="1092" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf1114b0ad905ca02f04ejpeg.jpg" alt=""/>For over two centuries now, Nepal’s real 'frontline workers’ have been its soldiers who fought and sacrificed their lives in foreign soil for countries other than their own. The tradition continues, and is upheld by the Gurkha reputation for courage and ability to survive any hardship that is promoted in literature and art. Till the Malla period, it was unheard of for Nepalis to fight in foreign armies. In fact, it was the other way around: Kathmandu’s kings 300 years ago used to recruit soldiers from Telangana in South India and Afghanistan.It was only during the Anglo-Nepal war (1814-1816) that Nepalis started fighting beyond the country’s borders. Balbhadra Kunwar, who famously thwarted the siege of Nalapani Fort, joined the army of the Sikh maharaja Ranjit Singh. Even before the Sugauli Treaty ended the war, the British were already recruiting Nepali soldiers for the ‘Nasiri Paltan’ to fight against defending fellow-Nepalis. This went on to become the first-ever Gurkha brigade. Then on, ‘Gurkha’ soldiers have been fighting in many wars in different parts of the world to this day.Gurkha valour has always been interwoven with pain and death. But we do not hear much of that because most Nepali soldiers in those days could not write, and there are few testimonies of what they went through. It is only recently that censored letters by Nepali soldiers archived in Europe have thrown light on the pain and suffering in the trench warfare of France and Belgium, and prisoner of war camps in Germany, during World War I.A diary written by a Gurkha sergeant during the battle of La Bassée in northern France in 1914, and retrieved from his body by a German officer, Lt Alexander Pfeifer, has recently come to light.Just within the first five days of the start of World War I in July 1914, more than 15,000 British soldiers had been killed. Reinforcements arrived from British India, and among them were about 20,000 Gurkhas. Six hundred Nepali men were killed on a single day on 30 October 1914 in La Bassée. <img width="1182" height="388" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf1144b0ad905ca02f04fjpeg.jpg" alt="">Many of the censored letters and diaries of Gurkha soldiers at the British Library and Museum give us an indication of their suffering in the battlefield. Because they did not fit the narrative of Gurkha ‘bravery’ and would have affected morale, the letters were censored and never received by their families in Nepal.These testimonies were a part of the dissertation of Nepali historian Pratyoush Onta, who painstakingly transcribed the letters in the 1990s. They describe the incredible courage, but also the pain, homesickness, and the insufferable wet cold of the trenches during the European winter.Selected excerpts:Worry about me.This war is fierce. Five of my friends from the Fourth Double Company have been killed. From the Second Company, one-third of the soldiers have lost their lives. The Gurkha Regiment has suffered a huge loss. And for those of us who are still alive, the chances of survival look slim. • • • On 19 May 1914 at five in the morning, our Fourth Double Company was attacked. We were 400 feet away from the German trench. We loaded our rifles with bullets, and stuck khukris in our mouths and went over the top.  Of all the wars that I have ever fought in, this is the most ferocious. Many from my company were killed, but we were able to capture the German trench. Because I was shot in my right elbow, I couldn’t move ahead with my company. By god’s grace the bullet didn’t pierce my bones. I am now in London and recovering. I will soon return to France and fight a good war with those Germans and kill them, because they aren’t human. They use poison gas to win a war. • • • You have been asking me about this place. This is like the fire and the frying pan. When I return home, we can talk about this. I will give you all the details, but I cannot promise you if that day will ever come. I could have written about the conditions here, but we are not allowed to share details. Many of our letters are opened and are censored. If we write anything against the orders given, the one who has written the letter will be punished severely. Dear brother, you must be going through a difficult time in your battlefield, but I understand. We are also suffering the same anguish. Brother, it rains a lot here and it is muddy. It is extremely cold, too. • • •I took part in an attack on a German trench in August. I was injured and had little sense of what was happening. I was taken prisoner by the Germans and sent off to their country. They cut my leg in the prisoners’ camp. I was then hospitalised for two months in Germany and later sent to Britain. They have now received orders to send me to India.• • •This is your brother Bahadur Pun, sending you my greetings. If you have three or four rupees, please send it to me. Along with that, if possible, please send some food, something to drink and some clothes. Dhaniram Pun and I are now prisoners of war in Germany.• • •My mother often said, ‘Leave your job, son, and come back home. Work in your own country, or you will suffer’. I wish I had listened to her. Now when I think of it, my heart fills with regret. <figure><img width="1500" height="1001" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf1164b0ad905ca02f050jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>सिपाहीको दु:ख, episode 1 of the tv magazine program Saglo Samaj</figcaption></figure>When the Germans realised that the British POWs spoke so many languages, they took this as an opportunity for linguistic research. They recorded the experiences of the Gurkha prisoners through their songs and folklore. Nepali researcher Alka Atreya Chudal at Vienna University has been given access to some of this material that includes early sound recordings of the Gurkha prisoners in Germany. Going through the archives at Berlin’s Humboldt Museum, Chudal found songs by Gurkha POW Jas Bahadur Rai that were recorded in 1915. Rai died seven months later, and his gravestone in a cemetery outside Berlin preserves the date: 3 January 1917. Although this was a model prison that the Germans used to show international inspectors, many Nepali prisoners succumbed to tuberculosis in winter.  “Jas Bahadur missed home, his songs and writings are a testimony to that, and more than 100 years later they have inspired me to do further research on the Gurkhas and their never-told tales of suffering,” Chudal says. <img width="1209" height="720" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf1194b0ad905ca02f051jpeg.jpg" alt="">There is a possibility that the writings and items belonging to Nepal’s soldiers recovered from Europe’s battlefields will finally be returned to their homeland. With them, we will learn about the other side of the Gurkha saga — the stories of yearning, pain beyond measure, of loves and lives lost.  Based on the first episode of Saglo Samaj, a tv magazine program produced by Himalmedia which is broadcast every Monday, at 8:30 pm on Dish Home Channel 130.

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be2d29c7e80680e083ecejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1668" height="1130"/><figcaption>Gurkhas in the trenches of France during World War I. More than 20,000 Nepali soldiers were killed fighting for the Allied Forces between 1914-1918. Photo: Imperial War Museum</figcaption></figure>Books have been written about the legendary bravery and sacrifice of Nepal’s Gurkha soldiers. Officers have extolled their obedience and cheerfulness despite hardships and danger. The world has an image of Nepali soldiers in the battlefield: fierce but always smiling.But historians have pored through letters and diaries written by Gurkha soldiers from the two World Wars to paint a slightly different picture — Nepalis in the trenches of Flanders Field or below the cliffs at Gallipoli, homesick, terrified, cold and miserable. Many of these letters home were held by military censors, and are archived.Now, a diary written by a Gurkha sergeant in the British Army during the battle of La Bassée in northern France during World War I in 1914, and retrieved by a German officer, have revealed a whole new side to the Gurkha legend, one that confirms the traditional bravery, but also their human side.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be2d59c7e80680e083ecfjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1912" height="1054"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be2d89c7e80680e083ed0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1804" height="720"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Lieutenant Alexander Pfeifer was with the Kurhessische Jäger-Bataillon Nr. 11 and found the diary of a Nepali solider in La Bassée on 20 December 1914 after a fierce battle against Allied forces of the British and French Armies. The battle had lasted from 12 October till the end of December. The name of the Nepali soldier, and whether he died in the battlefield or as a prisoner of war, are not known.Lt Pfeiffer’s great-grandson Philip Cross found the documents and the khukri while going through his family effects. He is in the process of translating his great grandfather’s diary into English, and also getting the diary of the dead Gurkha sergeant translated into English and German.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be2db9c7e80680e083ed1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1650" height="1240"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Lt Pfeiffer writes in his diary about the fearsome reputation of the Gurkhas among the German troops: ‘I found quite a few letters written in Indian script. They are fierce warriors. We are afraid of them. They use their knives to cut up the enemy,’ he writes in one entry.It appears that Lt Pfeifer’s job was to go through the bodies of dead enemy soldiers to find out if he could find any intelligence of what the Allied forces were up to. That appears to be how he got hold of the diary, photographs and even the khukri.The first page of the diary of the unknown Nepali solider is in verse with numbered lines. It lists the names of the writers’ young friends who were killed or taken prisoner, the hardships they endured. From the penmanship and vocabulary and the use of numbered verse, the soldier appears to have learnt his Nepali probably from a village priest who used to be the only literate person in the villages in Nepal in those days.यो कठै बरा...जोबन सबै शत्रुका हातबाट गयो ।।२०।। पल्टनको माया मोह नेपालमै रह्यो जिउँदै मरी कैलाशमा गयो। सुवेदार भीमसिं भँडारी भयो ।।२१।। हर्के थापा जसराजा धर्म खत्री कम्यान्डर प्रजीतन नैनसिं खत्री सरुप कुँवर प्रतिमन थापा<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be2de9c7e80680e083ed2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="788" height="1180"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be2e19c7e80680e083ed3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1878" height="1196"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Translated, the lines read: ‘Poor fellows, their youth was taken away by the enemy’s hands (20)The love of the military was left behind in NepalWe are the living dead who have gone to heavenSubedar Bhimsi Bhandari (21) Harke Thapa Jasraja Dharma Khatri Commander Pasitan Nainsingh Khatri Swarup Kunwar Pratiman Thapa’ <figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be2e59c7e80680e083ed4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="878" height="1180"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The second page of the Nepali solider’s diary (above) has the names of Gurkhas which, interestingly, are the same names found in the same order in the papers of Lt Pfeifer in which he lists the names of Gurkhas taken prisoner (left). The German phonetics also closely resemble the way the unknown soldier has written the names in Nepali, for example, by spelling Gurung as गुरुं (Gurun).Lt Pfeiffer's note in his own diary entry reads as follows:Found with a Gurkha sergeant major. The content of the notice page no. 1 says: The soldiers of the section (Battalion) should be treated with love, friendliness and kindness. Every person, who carries out the rules of his religion, according to law and order, receives his payment (will be happy). The orders of the commanding officer should be carried out precisely and immediately. The content of the notice paper no.2 is as follows. Names of the Gurkhas:<ol><li>Thuparau Gurun</li> <li>Chandrabir Thapa </li> <li>Akalbir Gurun</li> <li>Manbahadur Gurun</li> <li>Amarsing Gurun</li> <li>Udjersingh Gharti</li> <li>Imansing Gurun</li> <li>Manbir Thapa</li> <li>Chhabilal Rana</li> <li>Akatbir Thapa</li> <li>Narbahadur Thapa</li> <li>Schatasin Gurun</li></ol>On investigating some of these names, British Army records show that Chandrabir Thapa was a rifleman in the Second King Edward VII’s Own Gurkha Rifles (Sirmur Rifles). Manbir Thapa was a sergeant in the First Battalion of the First King George V’s Own Gurkha Rifles (Malaun Regiment), and his service number was 1896 and he was killed in action on 20 December 1914 in La Bassée. We even know Manbir’s father’s name was Parasram Thapa and lived in Dohadi village in western Nepal.Chhabilal Rana’s service number was 2114 and he was a rifleman with the Second King Edward VII’s Own Gurkha Rifles Second Battalion (Sirmur Rifles) and he was also killed in action on 20 December.Records at La Bassée show that there were other Gurkha soldiers killed in the battlefield or taken prisoner who are not on Lt Pfeiffer’s diary list. One of them is Haribal Thapa who, according to the Sir Kukri &amp; Co blog was a rifleman in the First King George V’s Own Gurkha Rifles (First Gurkha Regiment).His service number was 2952 and he died on 24 January 1915 while he was a prisoner of war in a German camp after being captured in La Bassée. His grave can still be found at a military cemetery outside Berlin. Haribal Thapa’s documents show that his father was Dal Kishore who lived in Perung in today’s Majhkot of Tanahu district.Lieutenant Alexander Pfeifer’s diary, as translated by his great-grandson, has many references to the Gurkhas who were their enemies and served in the British Army. Among them are entries dated 20 December 1914, the day of the fierce battle during which the 12 Gurkhas listed above by the unknown Nepali soldier were probably taken prisoner:<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be2e79c7e80680e083ed5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="1036"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><ul><li>I was woken up at 5:30am on 20 December 1914 by the sound of cannons and gunfire. Someone opened the door to the room where I was sleeping. He was the uberjäger from our machine-gun company. He was so frightened he could not even speak properly. Our machine-gun company had been over-run by the enemy. He said they (the Gurkhas) used their curved knife to cut the throats of our comrades, and killed everyone they could find. I woke up the others and related this news to them.</li></ul><ul><li>After the end of the battle, I witnessed a horrific sight. The dead and wounded covered the ground. There were some British and Indian (Gurkha) soldiers, who were in eternal sleep next to our artillery position. Some were headless, others did not have limbs. We took what we could from the dead. I got one of those curved knives, tobacco, food in tiffin boxes. </li></ul><ul><li> We were fighting these Indians (Gurkhas) who had their heads shaven. They were short and stocky, and very agile. One of them who was a prisoner of war said that the Gurkhas were terrified of the cold. They were afraid of the snow and freezing weather. They will soon bite the dust.</li></ul><ul><li>The Gurkhas have a reputation for being brutal, aggressive and fearless, but in their hearts they are kind, peace-loving and spiritual people. </li></ul><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be2ea9c7e80680e083ed6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2298" height="1038"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Nepali soldier’s diary, written by hand 107 years ago, says a lot about the war and the warriors from Nepal. The soldier was writing about fellow Nepalis in his own, and possibly other units, listing carefully the names of the dead and those taken prisoner. The names in the poem are probably of those who were killed in battle, but we cannot be sure. The other list, because of its similarity to the list in Lt Pfeifer’s list in German, could be of those who were taken prisoner on 20 December.But that opens up a puzzle. How come the list of dead soldiers in Nepali soldier’s diary is in the same order as the list of prisoners in German in Lt Pfeifer's diary? Nepali writer Satis Shroff who lives in the southwest German town of Freiburg has read Lt Pfeifer's notes, and deduces that the list contains names of Gurkha POWs and the commanding-officer is instructing his subordinates to treat the soldiers well and to allow them to practice their religious rites as they are used to. Shroff infers that the Gurkha who wrote the list of names is dead because there is no mention of a handing-over of the diary.It is not clear if Lt Pfeifer is just translating the Nepali soldier's diary, or if those are his own instructions. The German officer's own diary was ultimately found more than a century later by his great-grandson. We do not know what the Gurkha's name was, where in Nepal he was from, and what happened to him.To add to the puzzle, Manbir Thapa, whose name is among the 12 listed in the German and Nepali soldiers’ diaries, is also on the FindGrave.com list of those killed in action on 20 December 1914 in the battle of La Bassée and buried at Indian Cemetery in <a href="https://www.google.com/search?safe=strict&amp;client=safari&amp;rls=en&amp;sxsrf=ALeKk01rdoUpIkzZMB4dtPbPOl1AsEo_PQ:1606490163118&amp;q=La+Rochelle&amp;spell=1&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjC0YecgqPtAhWdzjgGHStuAFUQkeECKAB6BAgQEC4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/search?safe%3Dstrict%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sxsrf%3DALeKk01rdoUpIkzZMB4dtPbPOl1AsEo_PQ:1606490163118%26q%3DLa%2BRochelle%26spell%3D1%26sa%3DX%26ved%3D2ahUKEwjC0YecgqPtAhWdzjgGHStuAFUQkeECKAB6BAgQEC4&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606610831928000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEooEwW7j1qpO0hqcCG7g4EKtWx1w">La Rochelle</a> in France. Here is a partial reproduction of the list of those killed from the First King George V’s Gurkha Rifles (Malaun Regiment) on that day with their father’s name and hometown:Rifleman Buddhiman Thapa Father’s name and address: Sukhbhar Thapa, LamjungLance Corporal Kharak Bahadur GurungFather’s name and address: Jasbir Thapa, LamjungRifleman Bahadur GurungFather’s name and address: Asu Bahadur Gurung, LamjungRifleman Rana Bahadur RanaFather’s name and address: Kulman Singh, SerungRifleman Pritman ThapaFather’s name and address: Sarbajit Thapa, GrahamRifleman Ransur ThapaFather’s name and address: Purnabir Thapa, BhirkotRifleman Haribaran ThapaFather’s name and address: Pratiman Thapa, BhirkotLance Corporal Lal Bahadur GurungFather’s name and address: Sriman Gurung, GorkhaBesides the uncertainty of war, the Gurkhas who sailed across the oceans to a completely new country, climate and food must have suffered badly from culture shock. Many had boarded troop ships from Calcutta or Bombay and arrived in Europe at the beginning of winter in 1914. Their main hardship was caused by the extreme cold because they did not have enough warm clothes while in the wet trenches. Many wore military trousers on top of their suruwal.They had never been trained in trench warfare, and did not know how to dig them. They were not used to fighting in such cold. The Germans found out from the Gurkha prisoners of war that the Nepalis feared the cold more than the enemy they were fighting, according to Alexander Pfeifer’s diary.Most of the fighting men from Nepal could not read or write, and no one ever wrote their stories for them, so there is very little written documentation of what they went through. There must be so many hidden stories of unknown soldiers that we will never get to hear about. Yet, they are a part of our people’s history, and a forgotten chapter in the history of Nepal.Those who returned alive from the front, used to dock in Bombay and take the train via Banaras, where they all bought copies of the Nepali Ramayana translated by Bhanubhakta Acharya. One of the major ways in which the holy book got to the far corners of Nepal was through these demobilised Gurkhas returning home.The Battle of La Bassée lasted three months with the Germans first gaining the upper hand, and then being repulsed by British Army reinforcements from the Lahore Division and Gurkhas. The British suffered more than 20,000 casualties, of which 1,600 were from the Indian Corps, including Gurkhas. The Germans recorded 6,000 killed.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be2ed9c7e80680e083ed7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="924" height="1252"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Many of the Gurkhas captured in France and Belgium were transported to prisoner of war camps in Germany. There, some of the prisoners had their voices and songs preserved in early recording machines that had just come into use.Nepali professor Alaka Atreya Chudal of Vienna University has been translating from Nepali into German some of these testimonies recorded between 1914-1918 in a prisoner of war camp of Halbmondlager in Wünsdorf 40km away from Berlin.The 100 or so recordings contain Nepali folk tales, songs, poetry, and folk riddles that have immense linguistic and cultural value because they are preserved in audio from more than a century ago. The recordings are now in the archives of Humboldt-Universität in Berlin.Says Prof Atreya: “These folk material bring out the sorrow, prayers, suffering, longing for home and family of the Gurkha prisoners from long ago.”Shree Bhakta Khanal is an investigative journalist and author of An Arduous Path.

Diary of a Nepali soldier in France

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221129151140/638619f99c7e80680e0cccd3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="533"/><figcaption>Illustration: DIWAKAR CHETTRI</figcaption></figure>US President Donald Trump has pulled his country out of the World Health Organisation (WHO) citing its pro-China bias in dealing with COVID-19. (At least Trump says he has left the WHO, as with many of the president’s statements — remember the wall with Mexico? — reality can play out differently.)But even if this time Trump has accurately predicted what he will do, the global order did not just die. The pandemic might be stretching it like never before but many examples show that it is intact.For every confrontation that makes headlines, there are acts of cooperation that go unnoticed: the US prevents 3M from exporting masks, Washington and Ottawa agree to extend an agreement to keep their border closed till 21 June, when Trump <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/pompeo-accuses-who-of-failing-in-basic-duty/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/pompeo-accuses-who-of-failing-in-basic-duty/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1591492305679000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGnM-BCJh0YtceNmtprsPQrb_GjyA">froze funds to the WHO</a> before announcing the US’ withdrawal, Finland boosted its contribution.Of course, you can argue that such acts of cooperation are motivated by self-interest, but what is not in global relations? Governments create multinational organisations and sign treaties in the expectation that together they will be stronger – better able to prevent annihilation via wars, more effective at preventing the hole in the ozone layer from growing — and that individual nations and citizens will benefit.Development assistance is pledged in the hope that its recipients one day will become players in the global, wealth-generating trading system, which, at least in theory, benefits all participants. (More cynically, donor countries ‘tie’ aid to receiving countries doing business with their own manufacturers).Trump has also announced that the US will withdraw from the Open Skies treaty, which permits governments to conduct unarmed surveillance flights over 35 states, including Russia. Are you seeing a theme here? A huge chunk of the ‘COVID has killed cooperation’ thinking is based on events originating in Washington, and while the US president is undoubtedly influencing fellow leaders from Orban to Bolsanaro, as with many Trump-related issues, bombast overpowers behaviour.Here in Nepal, the US was one of the first governments to provide aid to Kathmandu, in March, to fight the outbreak. Many others have followed: China, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/uk-support-to-help-strengthen-nepals-response-to-covid-19/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/uk-support-to-help-strengthen-nepals-response-to-covid-19/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1591492305679000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGgvaCgocoaHlFxd1vxJZNNQUWkeQ">Britain</a>, Germany, India, Qatar, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/10000-covid-19-test-kits-to-nepal-from-singapore/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/10000-covid-19-test-kits-to-nepal-from-singapore/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1591492305679000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEdpD4HEu6SqdPPUQ4x__WapVM0vQ">Singapore</a>, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/swiss-pcrs-for-nepal-covid-19-testing/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/swiss-pcrs-for-nepal-covid-19-testing/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1591492305679000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGWnIC4n8J6DhbVOCs7aq_2AZbb7g">Switzerland</a>, UAE, even Burma. Yes, Nepal’s powerful neighbours India and China are both continually vying for influence here, and Switzerland and Germany are long-time donors, but if these governments were motivated solely by self-interest would they not be retreating into their own crisis-ridden states rather than assisting Nepal, where only 11 people have died to date of the coronavirus?France and Germany have proposed a €500 billion European Union rescue fund that would benefit mainly southern EU states like Spain, Greece and Italy, which have been devastated by the virus. Those governments would not have to repay the money. Of course the move, which still needs to be agreed by all members, is also motivated by self-interest — any failing nation will drag down all EU members — but if agreed the deal would mark a major response that belies the prevailing ‘charity begins at home’ narrative popular in these times.The international response to the pandemic includes $44 million deposited by governments into the United Nations COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, $217 million into the WHO Solidarity Fund, and €7.4 billion pledged for vaccine research. Even USAID has announced $99 million in global emergency health funding. Countries have anted up to finance a global response to the pandemic but as usual in times of crisis it's, not enough. WHO has reported it is $900 million short of the $1.7 billion it will need to respond to the virus in 2020.The WHO has become another flashpoint in US-China relations, which have soured in a trade war since Trump took office in 2017. President Xi Jinping used the recent meeting of the World Health Association, the decision-making body of the WHO, as a platform to pledge $2 billion over two years to help nations fight COVID-19, which dwarfs the roughly $500-million US contribution to the global health body.More than 100 countries are participating in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/countries-cooperating-to-find-covid-19-cure/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/countries-cooperating-to-find-covid-19-cure/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1591492305679000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE5Gy3XfqxCIHQpT1qL_fZJbCIp-Q">WHO’s Solidarity Trial</a> to speed up development of a vaccine, and in May 140 world leaders, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, signed a letter calling for all virus vaccines, treatments and tests to be patent-free, mass produced and distributed fairly.These actions seem to signify that much of the world agrees that just as the virus threat is global, the response too must be international.

Marty Logan

WHO and US

Three weeks into the lockdown, foreign embassies in Kathmandu are still trying to fly home the last of their remaining nationals from Nepal, but there are many expatriates who refuse to be repatriated.Since March 24, there have been more than 25 chartered flights flying tourists and expats back to Europe, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Brazil. But many foreigners have chosen to stay back in Nepal and wait out the COVID-19 pandemic.  “I’ve made my life here for many years and the situation in Canada doesn’t seem better,” says Zachary Barton from Canada who has been propagating permaculture in Nepal since 2003.On the phone from Fikkal Bazar in Ilam he told us: “In the past 20 years we’ve been through the Maoist war, a revolution, earthquake and blockade. Nepalis are extremely resilient. They’re not making a run for things, not panic buying toilet paper. I feel better being here actually — people deal with things without freaking out.” <figure><img width="2048" height="1365" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121112/636b8bb19c7e80680e06b2b7jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>German embassy collecting its nationals for a repatriation flight last month. Photo: BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure>On 11 April, 141 Canadians were flown out from Kathmandu on Qatar Airways, but for some the $3,000 price tag for a one-way economy ticket to Toronto was not worth it, considering uncertain times even back home. The New Zealand consulate also repatriated 27 nationals on 1 April, but twice as many Kiwis have decided to stay on in Kathmandu, Pokhara and other parts of Nepal.   “Canada took too long to repatriate its people and tickets were too expensive,” says 38-year-old Daniel Valdizan, an English-language professor in China who came to Nepal after universities there shut down in early January. He adds: “Most of us who chose to stay back agree that people here have been nothing but friendly and understanding to tourists, and I don’t feel unsafe here.”Indeed, guest houses in Thamel, Pokhara, Bandipur and other tourist spots have offered subsidised room rates and even free food for stranded tourists. Many have posted videos on YouTube full of praise for Nepali hospitality. The Department of Immigration has also said foreigners on tourist visas will not be fined for overstaying when they leave. <figure><img width="2000" height="1500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121112/636b8bb49c7e80680e06b2b8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Some French and Spanish trekkers who were in the mountains when the lockdown was announced have decided to stay on in Pisang in Manang. A dozen or so European, American and other nationals are said to be chilling out by the lakeside in Pokhara and relaxing in the rustic charm of Bandipur. A survey of various Kathmandu-based embassies this week showed that about one-third of staff are still in Nepal, but most with families have gone home. Foreigners working for bilateral agencies have kept only essential staff in Nepal. “I was in India when all of this started happening and got back here by the skin of my teeth on the last day. I was so happy to be back,” says Gloria Jones from Canada who is an adviser at a monastery here. “I have friends and family in Canada and no one’s trying to convince me to go back. I think they’re a little jealous of how happy I am here.”Douwe Kiran Soeting has been in Nepal for only three years but considers the Himalayan nation more of a home than his native Netherlands, and has decided to stay back helping at the Khagendra New Life Home where he supports 75 people with disabilities.“While here, at least I can keep people informed, help them stay positive and make sure they have enough funding for food,” says the 41-year-old. Cesar Morales was invited to train Nepali tennis players preparing for the forthcoming regional championships and the Olympics. He was supposed to travel to Spain and Italy before flying home to Chicago. “Nepal is still one of the safest countries to be in right now and people here have been wonderful. Flying with so many people and with multiple layovers back home to my parents who are 65 is a risk I cannot take,” Morales said from his flat in Satdobato. <figure><img width="600" height="800" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121112/636b8bb79c7e80680e06b2b9jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Briton Lesley D Junlakan is waiting it out in Nepal until she can return to Bangkok. Freelance writer and photographer who previously used to teach at Thammasat University in Thailand spends five months a year in Nepal volunteering at Kag Chode Monastery in Kagbeni and Pokhara.“I’m trying to make my time here worthwhile, documenting the lockdown and how it has affected people here, which I hope will be useful for the future,” says Junlakan who is now living in a guesthouse near Thamel. Graphic designer Tom Cisar from Austria has been volunteering in Tsum Valley since 2014. He is now in Pokhara with few other foreign nationals who have also chosen to stay back.  “There is xenophobia in many parts of the world during this crisis, but Nepal hasn’t had such a problem yet. This disease is no one’s fault, and all of us of different race and colours have to fight it together.”

Many foreigners stay put in Nepal

<figure><img width="1800" height="1200" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110911110/636b7a539c7e80680e064754jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Sunday's Cabinet meeting in Baluwatar where ministers and the prime minister maintained physical distancing. Photo RSS</figcaption></figure>The Nepal government decided on Sunday to extend its national lockdown by another week till midnight 7 April, and to continue the ban on all domestic and international flights till 15 April.The Cabinet made the decision on recommendation of the Coronavirus Control High-level Task Force headed by Defence Minister Ishwar Pokhrel based on the WHO criteria of a safe 14 day incubation period for the virus.The government may have first announced only a weeklong nationwide lockdown so as to soften the blow on the public, and to dissuade hoarders and black marketeers. Public health experts had said the lockdown would not make sense unless it was for a total of two weeks.They said the 14-day period was to prevent imported infections and also to isolate those people coming into Nepal and the people they had come in contact with. A further five day extension after 7 April would help control community transmission within Nepal. However, government sources told Nepali Times, no decision has been made yet on extended the lockdown beyond 7 April. They did not rule out local lockdowns even after mid-April if there were outbreaks of local clusters within Nepal.Sunday’s Cabinet meeting also decided to allow into the country hundred of Nepalis stuck at no-man’s land on the Indian border for the past four days on condition that they self-isolate themselves. It also advised all Nepalis still in India to remain where they are for now. There are reports of 300 Nepali workers stranded in Pune without money and any way to get back to Nepal. Nepal’s lockdown has not affected the transportation of food, fuel and essential supplies from India into Nepal through four border crossings, and Nepal has also opened two of its checkpoints with China for imports.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/lockdown-likely-to-be-extended/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lockdown likely to be extended</a><a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/lockdown-fallout/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lockdown fallout</a>, Editorial

Nepal COVID-19 lockdown extended till 7 April

<img width="640" height="275" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110911110/636b7a569c7e80680e064755jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Nepal’s Coronavirus Control High-level Task Force decided to extend the lockdown by another week, and allow rescue flights to take tourists stranded in Nepal back to their countries, but only if requested by the concerned embassies. So far, the French and German embassies have brought their nationals as well as other Europeans to Kathmandu for flights out on Qatar Airways via Doha. The Australian embassy is taking its nationals out on a direct flight to Sydney on 1 April by chartering a Nepali Airlines Airbus A330. The British Embassy is also arranging flights to Doha after collecting Britons trapped in Lukla, Pokhara and other areas. Nepal Airlines will also be taking stranded Sri Lankan tourists on a direct flight from Kathmandu to Colombo on 7 April.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/lockdown-likely-to-be-extended/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lockdown likely to be extended</a><a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/lockdown-fallout/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lockdown fallout</a>, Editorial <img width="640" height="535" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110911110/636b7a599c7e80680e064756jpeg.jpg" alt="">So far, 1,255 tourists have been brought to Kathmandu either by air or road since the lockdown began, nearly half of them from the Mt Everest area alone. Most of them have already taken flights back to their home countries. Of them, more than 900 were Europeans.“We are trying to locate other nationalities like Japanese, Canadians, and Sri Lankans and find ways to send them to their home countries,” Nepal Tourism Board’s Dhanjaya Regmi said. <figure><img width="640" height="360" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110911110/636b7a5c9c7e80680e064757jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>This Tara Air Viking Twin Otter made five shuttle ferries between Lukla and Kathmandu on Sunday to rescue 30 foreign trekkers and 28 Nepali guides.</figcaption></figure>2020 had been declared Visit Nepal Year, and the pandemic hit at the peak spring trekking season in the Himalaya. For example, there are believed to be 600 Canadians still in Nepal and there have been efforts to bring them back.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/lockdown-likely-to-be-extended/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lockdown likely to be extended</a><a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/lockdown-fallout/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lockdown fallout</a>, Editorial <figure><img width="640" height="314" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110911110/636b7a5e9c7e80680e064758jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Tourists flown back from Pokhara being taken to hotels in Kathmandu before flights out to their home countries this week.</figcaption></figure>On Sunday alone, there were 10 flights by Tara Air, Sita Air, Nepal Airlines and Summit Air to Lukla to bring back trekkers, some of them American and British, and their Nepali guides still stranded there. There were a dozen flights on Saturday to Kathmandu from Lukla. However, as wind picked up by mid morning some of the scheduled rescue flights had to be cancelled and 158 remaining trekkers and 70 Nepali guides will be flown back to Kathmandu on Monday.Meanwhile, a Nepal Airlines Airbus A330 flew back to Kathmandu from Guangzhou early Sunday morning with 13 tons of medical equipment and supplies procured by the private sector. They include COVID-19 test kits, personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers, masks, hoods, boots and other medical equipment.  <img width="640" height="520" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110911110/636b7a609c7e80680e064759jpeg.jpg" alt="">Also on Sunday morning, a Sichuan Air flight flew in medical equipment and supplies donated by Alibaba CEO Jack Ma and Sichuan Provincial Government to Nepal. The boxes were handed over by Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi at the Ministry of Health. The supplies include N-95 makes, PPE and digital thermal guns.

Nepal Airlines to fly stranded Australian tourists to Sydney

Born in Khandbari in eastern Nepal, Parashuram Pathak helped his family around the farm, sold what they grew in the market and lent a hand in the kitchen.&nbsp; After working as a chef in Dubai, San Francisco, Denmark, Australia, and on cruise ships, Pathak has now brought back what he has learnt to the Tusa Restaurant in Bhaktapur that opened on Nepali New Year on 13 April. Tusa uses fresh indigenous ingredients from various parts of Nepal, and fuses them with international methods to produce unique dishes. Pathak is a global Nepali, and is introducing global Nepali cuisine to his homeland. Pathak left an executive chef job to intern at three-Michelin-starred Noma in Denmark, named the best restaurant in the world five times. Noma runs on a philosophy of foraging to rediscover wild local ingredients, and Tusa’s mission is similarly noble: preparing dishes with Nepali ingredients using modern techniques and equipment. “We are taking Nepali food beyond dal-bhat and momo, we are taking it international,” Pathak said on the phone from Sydney. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-baker-rises-to-the-top-in-denmark">Denmark’s best baker is a Nepali</a>, Vishad Onta  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240419180424_1312bc016cbb2fe59c6d4a78d1f8b463af4a10b3f79559a2405fd54ea5b3197a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240419180424_1312bc016cbb2fe59c6d4a78d1f8b463af4a10b3f79559a2405fd54ea5b3197a" data-rendition-name="original" width="801" height="802" loading="lazy" alt="The return of the natives Page 12 NT #1208"> <figcaption>Photo: PARASHURAM PATHAK/FACEBOOK</figcaption> </figure>  Pathak’s team in Nepal includes chefs Rupesh Bohara and Sagar Shrestha who have also worked extensively in Dubai and Australia, and share his vision. The three realised they shared the same dream, and over the past five years have travelled across Nepal to research their menu, collecting ingredients and ideas from homestays, food carts, and nature. The team then scouted for Nepal’s best architect, and zeroed in on Bhaktapur-based heritage conservationist Rabindra Puri who designed the Malla-era house for Tusa in the Nag Pokhari neighbourhood. Bohara and Shrestha have moved back to Nepal for good, and Pathak arrives in September. “I made dishes from all over the world, but when someone asked what Nepali food was like, I had no answer,” says Bohara, “I came back to find out.” &nbsp;“You can get citizenship, a green card, big houses and cars, but where is the self-satisfaction?” asks Shrestha, who has a red-and-blue chef’s knife with the sun and moon of the Nepali flag tattooed on his right forearm.&nbsp; Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/diaspora-diaries/the-return-of-a-master-baker"> The return of a master baker</a>, Raju Pakhrin  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240419180424_c601264463e5a28d4e71a46781f340a53619a08d00949a7aaebfef84e75a319d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240419180424_c601264463e5a28d4e71a46781f340a53619a08d00949a7aaebfef84e75a319d" data-rendition-name="original" width="6000" height="4000" loading="lazy" alt="The return of the natives Page 12 NT #1208"> <figcaption>Photos: TUSA</figcaption> </figure>  Bohara and Shrestha passionately recount stories of their trips across Nepal, speaking of generous lodge owners who introduced them to local ingredients. Tusa can seat 28, and dining here is a sensory experience with a live kitchen. The chefs cook and place dishes on a large granite countertop with induction sections built in. Behind the counter is a grill on an indoor fire with pulley control to adjust the fire. Everything that can be made in Nepal — chairs and tables, ceramic dishes, the grill — is locally sourced. The executive kitchen/laboratory is downstairs. It is spacious, spotless, and contains appliances rarely seen in restaurants here: a sous vide machine that cooks vacuum-sealed packets at consistent temperatures, and a dehydrator for sisnu nettles. A fresh batch of deep purple kimbu (mulberry) muffins has just come out of the oven. Fridges have dry-aged fish and marigold kombucha. Fermentation seems to be the theme at Tusa, and Pathak explained: “Fermentation takes away the natural sugars in food, leaving behind a true, umami taste.”&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/vikings-khukri-passion">Viking's khukri passion</a>, Alisha Sijapati  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240419180424_c59e2b4230864f646bc36108adb951e95ec85da6156740294b1ec715b86acf89.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20240419180424_c59e2b4230864f646bc36108adb951e95ec85da6156740294b1ec715b86acf89" data-rendition-name="original" width="5895" height="3930" loading="lazy" alt="The return of the natives Page 12 NT #1208"> </figure>  Tusa itself means ‘shoot’ in Nepali, and can be a dish of fermented bamboo shoots. The restaurant serves a tasting menu with six courses, plus surprises. It starts with a fermented potato and millet roti with charred green garlic and tomato chutney. The bread tastes like a mix of alu paratha and kodoko roti with a satisfying, mild flavour. The chefs do not show off, and overdo it. Dishes are tastefully simple and faithful, a theme that runs through the meal. The second course is a filet of fish charred on one side and placed in a broth. It is delicate and smokey, and does not mask the character of the fish.&nbsp; The next is Batuk Chukauni, a Magar dish with a lentil snack and a yoghurt-based potato achar. The batuk, made of lentil batter, is light and the chukauni has potatoes and peas. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/money-is-not-everything-but-you-need-money-for-everything">"Money is not everything, but you need money for everything"</a>, Rohit Shrestha  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240419180424_e3f51228ff792e8d4297f81f8e67d138584e922ae035d131977494219e5e85c5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20240419180424_e3f51228ff792e8d4297f81f8e67d138584e922ae035d131977494219e5e85c5" data-rendition-name="original" width="1333" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="The return of the natives Page 12 NT #1208"> <figcaption>Batuk Chukauni. Photo: VISHAD ONTA</figcaption> </figure>  Next is a skewer of jackfruit with a tamarind and mustard glaze that has the texture of a slice of sausage and melts in the mouth. Then comes the first off-menu item: a steak of watermelon, glazed and grilled, tasting sweet, sour and smokey. After that a palate cleanser sorbet made with laligurans syrup adorned with a frozen candied rhododendron petal. Finally the main course: barbeque chicken and chyakla coarse corn grits. The chicken has been brined, marinated, cooked sous-vide and seared on the grill. The delicate consistency of the chicken stands out. Desert is a smooth, creamy cheesecake that uses the local juju-dhau yoghurt. And the last course is a moist, moss-green sisnu cake laced with mulberry jam and cream.&nbsp; There is nothing gimmicky about Tusa. It is the coming together of skilled Nepalis with international exposure who have mixed what they have learnt abroad with the flavours of home.&nbsp; The tasting menu is Rs3,500, and it may take some time before Nepalis develop a predilection for some of its items. The chefs are excited, vindicated, and relieved. Coming back to Nepal, uprooting successful careers abroad to take a chance on Nepal must not have been easy.&nbsp; Tusa had a soft launch on New Year’s day with Kathmandu-based diplomats. Australian Ambassador Felicity Volk was one of them, and wrote on a Facebook post: ‘Chefs who honed their skills in Australia and returned to Nepal to give back. We call it fine dining, they call it #cominghome.’ Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-baker-of-barpak">The baker of Barpak</a>, Tara Aryal Pandey

The return of the natives

For a year or two after the 25 April 2015 earthquake, the residents of Kathmandu were too terrified to return to their high-rise apartments. None of them collapsed in the 7.8 disaster, but many sustained serious structural damage. &nbsp;
Fast forward nine years, and they have all but forgotten that frightful day. Kathmandu is back to building substandard structures, even as land prices drive developers to build taller.&nbsp;
With no more space to spread horizontally, Kathmandu is going vertical. But structural engineers say most of the high rises do not take into account seismicity, soil condition, construction methods, quality of raw materials, fire hazard, and search and rescue in collapsed concrete structures.
“Much of our focus since the 2015 earthquake has been on building and construction, but not as much on where we are building,” warns Sangeeta Singh, Professor of Urban Planning and Deputy Director of Centre for Disaster Studies at the Institute of Engineering.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/in-a-disastrous-state">In a disastrous state</a>, Sonia Awale
She adds: “Kathmandu is not really suited for high-rises. We have to first test the condition of the soil, but building permits are being issued without this fundamental step.”
Kathmandu Valley is a former lakebed with soft topsoil prone to liquefaction and excessive shaking, as seen during the 1934 megaquake. Many ruptures tore up the surface in 2015. &nbsp;
During an earthquake, the rock layers below Kathmandu ring like a bell and the vibrations on the surface take between 0.5 to 2 seconds for one oscillation. Buildings also vibrate, but at different frequencies depending on their height, construction material, and arrangement of their structural components.
At five floors, the vibration period of a building is 0.5 seconds, which is the same as that for Kathmandu Valley, and this could cause more damage, says structural engineer Surya Narayan Shrestha at the National Society for Earthquake Technology - Nepal (NSET).
“Building anything that is five storeys or higher in Kathmandu needs special design and structural considerations,” says Shrestha.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/shaking-things-up">Shaking things up</a>, Editorial
Technologies exist to reduce seismic risk in high-rises, and these are used in earthquake-prone cities like Tokyo, Los Angeles, Jakarta or Mexico City.&nbsp;
Base isolation, for example, separates the vibration of the land and the building, reducing damage from soil-building resonance. Base isolators move and stretch under pressure, absorbing much of an earthquake's impact by reducing swaying and shaking. &nbsp;
Seismic dampers change the pattern of vibration altogether, dissipating energy as vibrations move across a structure. But these are all expensive technologies, and none of the high-rises in Kathmandu use them.
However, Nepali engineers who can help with technology transfer are working in the field in Nepal and overseas. Kathmandu’s high-rises are already very expensive, and making them seismic-resistant would be an incremental cost.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/learning-from-jajarkot-what-we-didnt-after-2015-695vpzle">Learning from Jajarkot what we didn't after 2015</a>, Sushil Gyewali
The shape of high-rises also matters. Reinforced concrete buildings with asymmetric designs of the kind that are seen in newer structures in Kathmandu experience more torsion and shear during quakes. High-rises with regular geometry are stronger. &nbsp;&nbsp;
An even bigger concern is that of emergency evacuation and rescue in case of fire or earthquake. Kathmandu fire services do not have ladders that reach the higher floors of most new structures.
“High-rises mean more people and potentially higher casualties,” explains Shrestha. “We need immediate evacuation routes, fire escapes, emergency ladders, and fire trucks that can reach higher. Right now, safety features are voluntary and not mandatory.”
The street access, shelters, open spaces, and evacuation routes are integral to disaster preparedness and the safety of neighbourhoods and not just buildings. Most new high-rises in Kathmandu have narrow access roads.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/rebuilding-resilience-7-years-later">Rebuilding resilience 7 years later</a>, Anil Pokhrel
Since most of the buildings that survived the 2015 disaster were reinforced concrete structures, it fed the misconception that they are safer. But Himalayan seismologists say that if the intensity and duration of the shaking had been just a little higher, many substandard concrete structures would have collapsed.&nbsp;
And that is the final gap: Nepal’s limited expertise and equipment for search and rescue inside collapsed concrete structures. Kathmandu’s high-rises need to be better prepared for the next Big One.
“Structural safety and design were at the front and the centre after the 2015 earthquake, we also revised some building codes but we are back to square one with contractor-driven construction, especially in peri-urban areas,” says Sangeeta Singh, who is also with the National Planning Commission. “We need to monitor construction as much as design.”&nbsp;
Shrestha at NSET agrees there have been improvements in building practices in the past nine years, but adds, “We have both learnt and unlearnt lessons from 2015. The awareness hasn’t yet translated into action on safety.”
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lessons-not-learned-from-2015-o2etq6zu">Lessons not learned from 2015</a>, Sonia Awale

The rise of high-rises

Midway along the stretch of the ancient trade route between Tibet and India lies the Kel Tol neighbourhood. The name is derived from the original Koligrām, and it is believed the Koli people, who were originally from Rāmagrām in present-day southern Nepal near the Indian border, settled here. The Koli were the maternal ancestors of none other than the Buddha. Kel Tol is famous for the Buddhist monastic complex of Kanak Chaitya Mahāvihar, featuring the majestic two-tiered gilded temple of the white god Karunāmaya.&nbsp; This elaborately decorated courtyard is a bustling centre of the Vajrayāna sect of Buddhism, practised widely by the indigenous Newā people of Kathmandu Valley. Karunāmaya, also known as Ārya Avalokiteshwor, is defined in great detail in the 1st century CE Buddhist text Sadharmapundarikā where he liberates all sentient beings from suffering. He helps rid the eight external fears metaphorically equated with their equivalent internal states of mind: lions (pride), wild elephants (ignorance), fire (anger), snakes (jealousy), floods (attachment), imprisonment (miserliness), thieves (wrong views) and cannibals (doubt).  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240418130432_fe370cbee75003cd3eb5dccc7c3b2671630da193b0744db2aeac1bab3ff4a85c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240418130432_fe370cbee75003cd3eb5dccc7c3b2671630da193b0744db2aeac1bab3ff4a85c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1338" height="2000" loading="lazy" alt="Seto Machhindranath"> </figure>  In the Pancha Rakshyā Sutra, a Buddhist scripture from 200 CE, Ārya Avalokiteshwor was counted among the eight major deities. Followers of the Brāhminical god Shiva worship Ārya Avalokiteshwor as Seto Machhindranāth. For Shaivites, Machhindranāth is the Indian saint who founded the Nāth cult in the 10th century CE. He is the guru of saint Gorakhnāth. During the reign of Yakshya Malla (1428–1482 CE), a beautiful image of Ārya Avalokiteshwor was dug up by a farmer in present-day Jamal, which was then a cultivated area outside the city. The farmer, known as a Jamami (meaning the one from Jamal) took the image home for safekeeping. That night, Ārya Avalokiteshwor appeared in the farmer’s dream and told him that the proper place for him to reside is at the confluence of two rivers. The nearest confluence was at present-day Wongha (Indrachok) and the image was installed in the Kanak Chaitya Mahāvihar complex in Kel Tol near Wongha. This made it easier for city residents to pay homage to Ārya Avalokiteshwor and spread compassion. Soon, the deity came to be revered highly as Jamaleshwor, the one found in Jamal. Eventually, the name got corrupted, as happens often in Nepāl Bhāsā, to Janabahā Dyo. The courtyard where his temple is located is now popularly known as Janabahā.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240418130432_5c9b219530e400445ef4e7f64856b43e7cdb756be26d9ed4565c84044c178a7e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240418130432_5c9b219530e400445ef4e7f64856b43e7cdb756be26d9ed4565c84044c178a7e" data-rendition-name="original" width="2500" height="1668" loading="lazy" alt="Seto Machhindranath"> </figure>  The gilded temple of Janabahā Dyo, first built in the early 16th century CE, is adorned with wooden and metal artefacts that symbolise 108 forms of Ārya Avalokiteshwor. It stands out as the most decorated temple of its kind in Kathmandu. Today, Janabahā is a living heritage site where many ancient customs and rituals are widely practised as per Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition. Devotees throng the Janabahā Dyo shrine for daily worship and to receive Karunāmaya’s blessings. Being the compassionate one, Ārya Avalokiteshwor goes around town every year in his tall wooden chariot to allow sick and physically disabled devotees to pay homage to him from the comfort of their homes. One could say it is a door-to-door visit by the Compassionate One.&nbsp; For the pragmatic minded, the chariot festival is an annual renewal of communal harmony, validation of our ancient mathematical supremacy and demonstration of the need to keep practical skills alive, including the craft of building earthquake resilient houses.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240418130432_fc8b234ceca87dee4b99e897a485cef121fb953857fb61492a413fbfcc48360c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240418130432_fc8b234ceca87dee4b99e897a485cef121fb953857fb61492a413fbfcc48360c" data-rendition-name="original" width="2500" height="1667" loading="lazy" alt="Seto Machhindranath"> </figure>  The Janabahā Dyo chariot is pulled from Jamal, where his image was found by the farmer, through the historic heart of Kathmandu in a gala parade every year. The procession, accompanied by folk music ensembles and revellers, starts on the eighth day of the bright half of the month of Chaitra, and lasts up to a week (ending on Saturday this year). Hundreds of devotees pull the chariot along the streets as a way of expressing their gratitude to lord Karunāmaya for blessing them with compassion and well-being. Purna Ratna Vajrāchārya is an ordained priest who belongs to the clan responsible for taking care of Janabahā Dyo. He has been studying the design and architecture of the chariot for the past 40 years, and overseeing its construction for the past 15. He has learnt that the engineering principles of building the chariot are based on the mathematical system in which Buddhism is taught. For example, 365 pieces of wood are used in the chariot, each representing a day of the year. Each of the four wheels consist of 25 pieces of wood, totalling 100, representing completeness or fulfilment. The chariot is vertically divided into 13 sections, a parallel to the Buddhist concept of Trayodashi Bhuvana that describes the 13 steps that one must take to achieve the state of Nirvana.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240418130432_36d9964c9845f6d9a074786361fc5ab7d49138503ad162086998b731349b0ec0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240418130432_36d9964c9845f6d9a074786361fc5ab7d49138503ad162086998b731349b0ec0" data-rendition-name="original" width="2500" height="1668" loading="lazy" alt="Seto Machhindranath"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240418130432_2662753a9514a682ccdfd17bf05e2be3771183a68dc86b717ab67d9aad894563.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240418130432_2662753a9514a682ccdfd17bf05e2be3771183a68dc86b717ab67d9aad894563" data-rendition-name="original" width="1668" height="2500" loading="lazy" alt="Seto Machhindranath"> </figure>  &nbsp;Exactly nine types of wood are used, which is the sum of the four base elements that make up the universe (earth, water, fire and air) and the five human senses. The height and length of the chariot is 32 arm’s length (hāt in Sanskrit), 14.8m. The number 32 represents the maximum number of auspicious and physical qualities one could possess to be considered an outstanding human being.&nbsp; Says Vajrācharya, “Observing how the chariot is built helps one learn the fundamental pillars of the Buddha’s teachings, and find an easier path to Nirvana.” The structural design of the nearly 15m wooden chariot is not only awe-inspiring but also gravity-defying. It leverages the pliancy of the materials used in its construction -- flexible joints tied with cane soaked in water for several days. The precise proportions of the chariot ensure great manoeuverability in the narrow streets along the route of the chariot procession that include some 90° bends, without colliding into houses.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240418130432_9f5c2943f5d6b3f0010d3d5213697549945e87a6f7d3d8cbadd69f0dea6c6e2c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20240418130432_9f5c2943f5d6b3f0010d3d5213697549945e87a6f7d3d8cbadd69f0dea6c6e2c" data-rendition-name="original" width="2500" height="3750" loading="lazy" alt="Seto Machhindranath"> </figure>  Driving and steering the chariot with brute muscle power of the mirthful crowd is a seemingly impossible task. But this has been achieved year after year, despite the fact that the devotees who tug wildly at the ropes lassoed to the two front wheels, are most likely in high-spirits (pun intended). Sanjay Manandhar, a US-based technology entrepreneur, recounts how his high school physics teacher from Canada asked his students to go observe the locals build the chariots of Karunāmaya if they were interested in becoming engineers in the future.&nbsp; “That made no sense to me then, but, after all these decades, I now see clearly how the structural design of the chariot, adopted early on by our ancestors is full of earthquake-resilient properties that need to be applied in building houses in an earthquake-prone zone like Nepal,” says Manandhar. A highlight of the chariot festival is that human goddess Kumari makes an appearance at the final destination in Lagan, usually on the third day. This is only one of the 13 times that people get to see the Kumari outside her temple abode.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240418130432_08aa39f3f004a212b33c60a2840d6013110de15dd34a0288f699dd5fda8957ab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240418130432_08aa39f3f004a212b33c60a2840d6013110de15dd34a0288f699dd5fda8957ab" data-rendition-name="original" width="2500" height="1667" loading="lazy" alt="Seto Machhindranath"> </figure>  On the last day of the festival (Saturday), the image of lord Karunāmaya is carried on a palanquin by priests from Janabahā in a gala procession and brought back to his permanent residence at the temple in Kel Tol.&nbsp; The chariot festival is thought to have started during the reign of King Pratap Malla of Kantipur in the 17th century CE. For close to four centuries, the construction of the chariot and its operation has proven to be a phenomenal engineering feat, and the people’s faith in divinity means the tradition is alive.&nbsp; The essence of the colourful rituals and the religious beliefs of this ancient chariot festival is now all but lost. The logic, technology and practicality must be brought back to light, as they reflect the high civilisation and wisdom of our ancestors that we can leverage in modern times and into the future. &nbsp; Alok Tuladhar is a culture and heritage documentarian.

Kathmandu’s gravity-defying chariot festival

In the run-up to the third Nepal Investment Summit this weekend, there have been seminars, conferences and workshops where the discourse has revolved around the economy and the investment climate.
The consensus that Nepal needs foreign direct investments (FDI) to grow was repeated, and the familiar litany of reasons about why it has not been able to was discussed.&nbsp;
Policy advocates and regulators have understood that the lack of urgency is compounded by procedural inconsistencies, on top of the already deficient investment environment in the country.
It is a welcome change from what used to be flippantly accepting matters as given. There now seems to be a sense of urgency, with procedural inconsistencies and lack of harmonisation between various Acts and regulations openly discussed.&nbsp;
Government stakeholders also appear more willing to learn and attempt to be part of the solution. Whatever policy changes have been introduced in the past have been piecemeal and address the few rather than the entire industry. This left dual regulatory approaches aimed at similar players.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/killing-investment-in-nepal-in-10-easy-steps">Killing investment in Nepal in 10 easy steps</a>, Dibesh Karmacharya
This time, unlike in the past two Summits, the government seems to be committed to amending 9 Acts, a positive step towards showing commitment to change. However, the deadline to do so during the winter session of Parliament is over. The option mooted has been to have it passed through ordinance, a lesser appealing step; albeit, a positive one moving forward.&nbsp;
To attract FDI in a competitive global market means that Nepal has to demonstrate that it is serious about bringing in investments with a more consultative and collaborative approach with investors. A departure from procedural to a result-oriented focus is needed.&nbsp;
To put issues in perspective, Nepal needs US$20 billion in investments to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets by 2030. If net-zero decarbonisation targets are to be met by 2045, another US$7 billion will be required annually.&nbsp;
Looking at our investment history and poor government capital expenditure, the gap is long and wide. In fiscal year 2022-23 Nepal booked a lamentable ~$59 million in FDI (equity). Nepal is in fact the lowest market in South Asia for FDI with 0.3% of the regional average.&nbsp;
What is it that we can do to fill the gap?&nbsp;
First, we need to move away from the notion that Nepal only needs large investments. This has proven to be a mistake, and time series data have proven that smaller investments, in aggregate, make a larger impact on economies.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/poor-cash-rich-nepal">Poor cash-rich Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale
We talk about an ‘enabling environment’ but without the right tools. We place restrictions on interest on debt ceiling (SOFR +5.5), without risk premium adjustments, we do not have an active secondary market for bond trading, nor do we have a yield curve, an integral part of the bond market, which is inhibiting us from tapping into the trillion dollar green bond market.&nbsp;
In order to attract green financing, Nepal needs to develop its bond market. Sovereign risk rating has been mooted and was expected to be operationalised before the Investment Summit.&nbsp;
However, to be rated in an adverse economic environment could further deteriorate investment potential due to a lesser-than-expected rating.&nbsp;
Hedging is another instrument that needs further research on. A commercial bank last year showcased the first risk-hedging mechanism for an investment of $8 million. This can be the beginning to expand on its modality. &nbsp;
Subordinated debt instruments have been introduced, but on a special nod basis, this now needs to be institutionalised as it is the most applicable form of investment after equity in a market that has volatile forex reserves.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/invest-in-investment">Invest in investment</a>, Nepali Times
Viability Gap Funding has been introduced by multilateral development agencies implemented in solar installations. It is a tool to incentivise the private sector to invest in projects that are not financially lucrative initially, but have potential for profitability in the long run. This needs to be scaled up and replicated in sectors like infrastructure, where returns may not be immediate.
Moving forward, to attract FDI, Nepal needs to tap into the funds that are available for the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and climate change. Alternative investments such as Private Equity Venture Capital (PEVC) have been around in a structured manner in Nepal for nearly a decade now.
These funds have blended finance components and have attracted climate funding as well. PEVC is a new asset class and can address the issues of penetrating into SME financing by incorporating environment, social and governance issues into their investment process.&nbsp;
SMEs are the backbone of any economy, PEVC comes with the ability not only to scale up the enterprise with risk capital, but with the ability to bring technical knowhow to enhance not only the enterprise but also the entrepreneur.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/success-in-nepal-means-not-having-to-work">Success in Nepal means not having to work</a>, Anil Chitrakar
A differentiator from all other forms of financing available till date in Nepal. Blended finance is a way of de-risking investments, especially in frontier markets. Business Oxygen (BO2) is an example of blended finance with subordinated debt investments of IFC (World Bank Group) taking the lead and Climate Investment Funds along with FCDO as co-investors.&nbsp;
On a larger scale, the 216MW Upper Trisuli 1 is another example of blended finance with IFC, a Korean consortium and local investments. So far, we see that development finance Institutions have been taking the lead in Nepal as their risk appetite is greater than commercial investors and they are eager to help develop the financial markets.&nbsp;
In order to be sustainable, we need to step on this and attract commercial capital from all over the world. To do this there has to be political will to make that pivot.&nbsp;
Instead of being a means to an end, the two previous Investment Summits turned out to be intermittent and cosmetic, providing hardly any results. The third one’s success will depend on how the event will be implemented as a platform for continuous marketing for the country and facilitation for investors in future.&nbsp;
Nepal has outdone many countries in its macro-economic indicators, with sound forex reserves and a stellar history of debt payments to its creditors. This story needs to be propagated along with the drive for change to attract potential investors.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/alternative-investments-to-attract-fdi">Alternative investments to attract FDI</a>, Siddhant Raj Pandey

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