Children at the earthquake-ravaged Tungathali settlement in Ghorthali VDC have started suffering from various cold-induced diseases.

Local residents said a majority of children in Wards 7 and 9 in the VDC are taken ill and await medical care. “There is hardly any house in the settlement that does not have an ailing person,” said Jal Bahadur Thami, a local resident. Fifteen children in the settlement are bed-ridden.

The quake-displaced people in the village have been living in flimsy shelters made up of corrugated zinc sheets and bamboo. There are 62 households belonging to the impoverished Thami and Dalit communities 

in the area. About 90 percent of the houses were destroyed by the April 25 earthquake and its aftershocks.

Kamala BK, a local, said she has become restless for the past couple of days after her five-year-old son and two-year-old daughter fell ill. She said she took her children to a local shaman as medicines provided to the children had no any impact.

“The children have been suffering from fever and cough for the past couple of weeks. We survived the devastating earthquake but it seems that this fever may take its toll,” BK said. Her ailing daughter was rescued alive from a quake-damaged house.

The children in the settlement are also deprived of warm clothes. “Most of the poverty-stricken villagers are unable to buy warm clothes for their children,” said Jal Bahadur, a local.

Asheshwor Mandal, in-charge at a local health post, said scores of villagers, mostly children, visit the health post daily for treatment. According to him, local children are suffering from pneumonia and fever.

Dr Sagar Rajbhandari at the district hospital said the number of patients suffering from cold-related disease has increased this year. He claimed that the local health facilities have been providing treatment. “There is not any shortage of medicines in the district. The quake victims also should be aware of protecting themselves from the cold,” he added. At least seven quake-displaced people in Thokarpa in the district are said to have died of cold-related diseases in the past three weeks.