There are not much human activities in the earthquake-hit Hingdung, a remote settlement at Sertung VDC-9 in Dhading district, these days.

Out of the 96 households who resided there, 70 were displaced as a result of the earthquake. They are now taking shelter at the district headquarters. Only a few villagers stayed back. Some of them senior citizens and some postpartum women. They have been left in the lurch as they do not have their family members to look after them.

Aaitaman Tamang said a majority of the villagers left Hingdung due to fear of landslides.

“There are only 26 household left in the village and there are hardly any young and able people around,” the 65-year-old said.

Eighty-seven-year-old Shahiman Tamang is living all by himself after his sons and their families left in the wake of the earthquake.

“My sons are staying in a camp for earthquake displaced at the district headquarters,” he said.

The condition of postpartum women is even worse as most of them are suffering from various illness because of cold and lack of proper diet.

“Nearly a dozen women in the village are down with various cold related illness,” 70-year-old Nima Tamang said. “They do not have anyone to look after them or prepare them healthy meal.”

Of late, even children are suffering from diseases like diarrhoea and conjunctivitis. There are no health facilities nearby, so the villagers rely on herbal remedies.

Phiriman Tamang said earthquakes and recent landslides have damaged the foot trails  at Hingdung and other villages in the northern region of the district. “Without the road connectivity we cannot ferry food materials, nor carry the sick persons to health posts,” he said.