With temperatures plummeting below freezing, earthquake survivors in northern villages including Barpak, Laprak, Gumda and Sirdibas of Gorkha district, the epicentre of the April 25 earthquake, are facing a hard time, as the flimsy structures they are living in hardly offer any protection against the biting cold. 

“We are staying inside tents but they do not provide any protection,” said Maya Gurung, a local from Gupsipakha in Laprak, which has been blanketed in snow. “We are making bonfires to keep ourselves warm.” 

The sudden change in weather condition since Friday evening has affected life in earthquake-affected villages of Gorkha and Rasuwa and other mountainous regions. 

In Rasuwa, earthquake survivors, especially the elderly and children, who have been living in fragile tents in temporary camps, are enduring severe cold conditions since Friday. The upper areas of northern and central parts of the district have witnessed heavy snowfall since Friday evening. 

The highlands have witnessed light rains, snowfall and hailstorms since Friday evening due to a sudden movement of westerly trough, a rain producing weather system from the Arabian Sea, that is moving from the western to central and eastern regions. 

“The cloudy weather condition in high mountainous areas will start improving from Sunday,” said Raju Pradhananga, a meteorologist at the Meteorological Forecasting Division (MFD). 

“The westerly disturbance has particularly affected the high altitude areas that witnessed snowfall and hailstorms in some places,” he added. “Though the weather remained cloudy in some parts of the eastern and central regions, no significant rainfall was recorded in the lower regions.” 

“Weather condition will improve from Sunday morning,” said Pradhananga, adding that there is no likelihood of rain in the next three days.

“So we can expect fair weather across the country,” he said.

(With inputs from Krishna Thapa in Rasuwa and Sudip Kaini in Gorkha)