Eight months after a devastating earthquake shook Nepal, thousands of Nepalis are still living in temporary shelters and facing a winter without any relief aid.A 60-year-old earthquake victim from Aaruarbang VDC in Gorkha died of cold on Friday night, taking the total number of cold-related deaths across the country this season to 20. Most of the deceased are earthquake victims who are living in temporary shelters. The elderly who died on Friday has been identified as Lal Bahadur Baram of Aaruarbang-1. “He was frozen to death,” Tek Bahadur Bhatta, a local teacher, told the Post over phone. He said the victim did not have warm clothes and bedding to beat the biting cold. Baram had been living in the hut alone. “He (Baram) was fine. He went to the bed the previous night after taking his evening meal,” said Bhatta. Inspector Rabiraj Thapaliya at Area Police Office in Aarughat, however, said that police were unaware about the incident. At least seven earthquake displaced people are said to have died of cold-related disease at Thokarpa in Sindhupalchok district in the past three weeks. Hundreds of quake victims have been suffering from various ailments due to cold in various districts hit hard by the April 25 earthquake and powerful aftershocks.
