Janak and his family are survivors of the horrific earthquakes that struck Nepal in 2015, killing 9,000 people and destroying nearly a million homes.
When the first earthquake struck, Janak was at home with his wife and children. As the family fled, part of their house fell, killing all their livestock.
Across the valley, Janak’s mother, Ganga Maya, couldn’t escape in time. When the ground finally stopped moving, she was found unconscious and bleeding, her leg crushed by a massive stone. But unlike many of her neighbours, she was alive.
With the only road blocked by rubble, friends helped Janak carry his mother to the nearest hospital. The four-day journey saved her life – but the trauma of the family’s narrow escape understandably left Janak fearful.
‘In the future, we’re due another huge earthquake,’ he says. ‘After the last one, I thought, when that comes, we’ll die.