Entrepreneurs help rebuild Nepal amid quake aid delays

When a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck Nepal last year, Barpak, the village nearest the quake’s epicentre, lost 72 people, almost all of its 1,000 traditional mud and stone houses, and its micro hydropower plant.On April 25, the disaster’s first anniversary, clean energy came back to Barpak.A cheer went up from the crowd as the power was turned on.Power returned thanks to the efforts of Bir Bahadur Ghale, a Barpak native.In the days after the quake, the entrepreneur saw about 1,000 people gathered around a generator in a local school playground.“I realised that if we don’t find a way to power their temporary shelters soon, they may suffer from depression,” said Ghale, a micro hydropower entrepreneur in his 40s.“They needed to charge their mobile phones,” he said. “They also wanted to listen to radio and watch television.”While government and international donors have struggled to meet the expectations of the quake’s survivors, entrepreneurs, often working with few resources, have rebuilt homes and schools, created solar-powered lights and raised funds.Such endeavours have earned them accolades in a country where the government, rife with corruption, has been slow in addressing the needs of quake survivors.Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal recently pledged grants of 300,000 Nepalese rupees ($2,800) per household for survivors of the quake.Less than 60% of the more than 500,000 eligible households, however, have received their first 50,000-rupee instalment, according to data from the National Reconstruction Authority.Entrepreneurs have jumped in to fill the gap.After the quake, 36-year-old Nepalese architect Nripal Adhikary travelled, with just a handful of tents, to Balingtar, a village roughly 12kms south of the quake’s epicentre.Adhikary had recently built schools in Balingtar, and he saw his efforts had paid off: The schools, made of local materials such as mud and bamboo instead of concrete and cement, were still standing, while structures made of other materials had crumbled.“When I saw that the school buildings we made were safe, I was so glad. I almost felt vindicated,” said Adhikary, director of Adobe and Bamboo Research Institute, a company based in Kathmandu.Adhikary set about designing and supervising construction for low-cost, earthquake-resilient homes, including one for a woman in Kavre, one of the worst-hit districts in Nepal.At 800,000 rupees, the house cost 30% less than an average home, Adhikary said - even with advanced features such as a more modern cooking stove, a solar system for lighting and a rain-harvesting system for water.The home now houses Sanu Maya Tamang, 45, and her two children, ages 11 and 13.A spare room provides income as a home-stay for tourists.“After our house collapsed in the quake, I had lost hope,” said Tamang, who lived for 10 months after the quake in a corrugated shed she said was too cold in winter and too hot in summer.“Ever since I moved to this house in May, we feel safe,” she said.On the outskirts of Kathmandu, Madindra Aryal, a 25-year-old electronics and communications engineer, was inspired by the plight of earthquake survivors who were living in flimsy tents on a small patch of land near his home.One week after the earthquake, he met Bal Krishna Joshi, 44, a Nepalese IT entrepreneur who was trying to import solar lights from Europe for the survivors.Aryal offered to make a solar light prototype in Nepal.In three weeks, he produced a portable solar light with a battery life of six hours and a built-in mobile charger.Gham Power, a Kathmandu-based solar power company, supported production of the lights with marketing and equipment.The prototype, called Nepal’s Light, is priced at 2,500 rupees.A Kathmandu-based charity group, Volunteer for Change, distributed 200 lights, and Aryal donated 100 lights to the survivors who inspired the project.In Barpak, which sits in the shadow of snow-capped mountains, entrepreneur Ghale knew how important electricity was.In the early 1990s, he had initiated work on the village’s 133-kilowatt micro hydropower plant.Fed by a stream, the plant provided round-the-clock, off-the-grid power to 1,500 residents.Local baker Koshiram Ghale said “electricity was what we missed most.”“When the power returned, all of us were very happy,” the 32-year-old said. “I had all the more reason to be happier because I cannot imagine running my business without power.”“Things have got much better now, but a year back I was very worried about my livelihood,” he said.