Lantang Rebuilding - a photo story
Langtang valley is referred to as ground zero of the April 2015 earthquakes. It is the site of the single most devastating event of the earthquake when a landslide from the peak of Langtang Lirung came down on Langtang village with the force of half an atomic bomb killing at least 200 people instantly, burying them below metres of rock.
Having been the third busiest trekking destination in Nepal it is now just a shadow of that. The community relies on tourism for economic survival. They need tourism now more than ever.
One year on, the people of Langtang are working hard rebuilding their livelihoods. They are keen to get the message out that Langtang valley is once again open for business.
In this project, I have focused closely on the individual people affected. I spent a month with them, capturing their personal stories through portraiture.
Nyima Gyalmu Tamang in Bhanjyangaon. Since 25 April 2015 she has been living in temporary structures, like many others. They are flimsy tarpaulin, corrugated iron and plastic sheets. She has no income and because as a widow she owns no land and gets no government support. Her life has been changed forever by the earthquake.
The site of Langtang village, once the heart of the national park, home to the services such as a school, medical centre and bases for army and police posts. Now buried under rock from the landslide that was triggered by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake of April 2015. Prayer flags are blessings for long life; they litter what is now a grave for hundreds of people.
On the outskirts of Kyanjim Gumba stands Cheoten Lama. Behind are the Himalayas, the source of the avalanches that struck her village. Cheoten has a full time job feeding the workers rebuilding and expanding the town.
Dorje from Okuldhunga comes towards the warmth of a fire after rebuilding the roof of Cheten and Babu Tamang's house during a storm, his jacket steaming. He eats and sleeps in this temporary hut.
Many workers from other regions have come into Langtang as volunteers to help with the ongoing emergency. A race is on to rebuild before the Autumn tourist season, although this may never come as Kathmandu tourist agencies are claiming that Langtang is too dangerous.
Ghodatabela was once a thriving village with a guest house and restaurant. Placed at the bottom of the valley it used to be a popular one-night stopover on the trek up Langtang valley.
Nyima Lama breaks stones into smaller pieces for the construction of a new path in the damaged village. All day she works to rebuild the town.
Tsiring is carrying her son through Khangjim. Children are a rare sight in Langtang these days. They are away in Kathmandu because all the schools in Langtang have been destroyed.
Khasi is a porter from a small hamlet below Khangjim. Work has been hard for him to find in the last year. Drinking the local rice beer otherwise known as Chhaang is how passes the time.
Gyatso outside his dwelling. Tucked into his waistband is a kukri, traditional weapon of the ghurkas, he uses it for woodchopping.
The repair of Karchung Tamang's house, once a lodge and restaurant, has been forgotten. Delays in reconstruction have been blamed for more than a dozen deaths during the winter, mostly of elderly people. She sits next to her pile of kindling.
Karchung in front of her house. Unmarried, widowed and divorced women have very limited access to relief measure. She now has no job or income and relies on the charity of other local people.
Temporary shelters in front of the caves south of Kyanjin Gumba used for refuge. It was ten days before the rescue helicopters arrived and when they did it was only tourists who were taken to the safety of Kathmandu.
The earthquake still haunts Sherap. Now he is a key figure in the rebuilding as he hosts groups of volunteers transporting heavy building materials up the valley. He cooks them dal bhat (lentil curry) and teaches them 'falas', a gambling card game.
Tenzing Gyalbu is a healer. He is also a single father who runs a guest house. Since the earthquake he has been struggling to make enough money to rebuild his home.
Babu Tamang warms himself by the light of the fire in his hut as the weather closes in. The locals in Langtang are of Tibetan ethnicity.
Cheten Tamang does all the cooking and hospitality for the lodge she lives in with her husband, Babu. They host the workers rebuilding the village of Thyangshup.
Surrounded by shingle, Chhiring begins the task of rebuilding her house in Thulo Shyaphru.
Thulo Shyaphru is a hill top village on the south side of Langtang valley. This is what is left of the Mona Lisa lodge and restaurant where trekkers stopped on their way to the mountain lakes of Gosaikunda.
A wooden beam is carried across scree formed by one of the giant landslides from the earthquake, near Kyanjin Gumba.
The hike up Langtang valley is a tough one for trekkers. Locals walk up with building materials loaded on their backs.
The cost of helicopters out of reach, Nepalese people walk for three days non-stop carrying up to 50 kgs of wood each. These volunteers will be staying with Sherap.
A scene of reconstruction in Kyanjin Gompa. Locals still live in tents on the outskirts of this town.
The pace of rebuilding is picking up, with hammers knocking throughout the valley and the paths full of workers carrying cement, wooden beams and rocks.
Lobsang is a carpenter who has travelled from Okuldhunga to volunteer in the project. Working under temporary structures he plains one of the structural wooden beams of a typical Langtang house.
Working with stone or glass, on foundations or carpentry, the workers in Langtang need a wide range of skills. Small teams achieve great things very quickly in this remote location.
Tashi is part of the team constructing a new guest house to welcome a new wave of tourists to the region.
Kalsung is a skilled carpenter from Everest. His team, made up entirely of his family, can build a house in less than two months.
Rebuilding in Mundu, a village very close to what remains of Lantang. Pasang Tamang works on his sister's house with the help of his friends.
Mundu Primary School in the Langtang Valley was severely damaged and the roof blown off.
Everyone in Langtang has lost someone. The people will never forget but they will move forward and attempt to recover.
Now Maya is talking about the future. Her plan is to go to Europe and work to send money back to her family like many other Nepalese. This is the largest source of income in Nepal. If tourism does not pick up by this November she will not be able to stay here in Langtang.
The Langtang landscape looking down valley from Kyanjin Gumba. The weather moves fast as the seasons change. The scenery is truly stunning.
Although their lives have been extraordinarily difficult since the earthquake, the people of Langtang are resilient. They have held together as a community. The feat of rebuilding is nearly complete. They are ready for the tourists to return so Langtang can finally get back on its feet.