Valley
Harry visits quake-affected areas
On the second day of his five-day official visit to Nepal, British Prince Harry visited earthquake-affected areas of the Valley to take stock of reconstruction efforts.On the second day of his five-day official visit to Nepal, British Prince Harry visited earthquake-affected areas of the Valley to take stock of reconstruction efforts.
Also known as Prince Henry of Wale, the British prince visited Patan Durbar Square and observed workers rebuilding ancient monuments in the Unesco World Heritage Site. Hundreds of locals waited for a glimpse of Harry as he was welcomed there in traditional Newari customs. The 32-year-old prince also visited nearby Hiranyavarna Mahavihar (Golden Temple) where he interacted with people.
Later in the day, Harry visited an emergency pre-positioning site in Bhaktapur run by the Red Cross. He also toured a shelter housing more than 250 earthquake-
displaced people at Byasi in the district.
Prince Harry arrived in Nepal on Saturday as a representative of Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom to mark the bicentenary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. His visit is also aimed at showing the world that Nepal is able to host foreign tourists a year after the devastating earthquakes killed around 9,000 people and destroyed some 600,000 homes.
Prince Harry also paid a courtesy call to President Bidhya Devi Bhandari at her official residence. The two discussed on matters of bilateral relations between Nepal and the UK. Harry also commended the resilience of Nepali people in dealing with the disaster of last year and praised the role of Gurkha soldiers in the British Army.
President Bhandari thanked Prince Harry for development assistance the UK has been providing to Nepal and expected that his visit will help bring tourists back to the country.
Harry is scheduled to fly to Bardiya on Monday where he will go rafting and tiger viewing. Before coming back to Kathmandu on Wednesday, the fifth in line to the British throne will visit Pokhara and surrounding areas where he will go trekking and also spend a night in Lamjung.