"NEPAL AFTER THE QUAKE" is a body of work realised in September 2015 in the recently devastated Himalayan nation. A long awaited trip planned to Kathmandu and the Himalayas took on a different twist when the 25 April quake hit Nepal, leaving behind a long trail of destruction, death and grieving.

Over 9.000 people lost their life and many more were injured or displaced, with related avalanches wiping out or isolating mountain communities.

While the western part of the country was left virtually unaffected, the Kathmandu Valley east of the epicentre located in Gorkha, has been hit hard.

Unesco World Heritage sites crumbled into piles of bricks and so did the numerous mud bricks buildings in the surrounding villages opening areas of devastation. Hundreds of aftershocks contribute to delay the construction in fear of a new major shake.  

I pointed my camera at the scars visible throughout Kathmandu and the Central Valley, with the intention of documenting the temporary nature of destruction and reconstruction, but also to show the daily life goes on beyond grief and desperation.

Inside a partially demolished building during a demolition session. Three stores structures built with mudbricks and without vertical structure have little or no chance to survive a 7.8 earthquake.

A Shiva statue stands untouched in the rubble.  Among other attributes, Shiva is known in the Hindu religion as the Destroyer, but also the Restorer.

A Bhaktapur resident spends the night in an empty stall at the local market. Due to numerous aftershocks following the April 25 earthquake (a magnitude 5.0 just struck the day before this photo was taken), many locals choose to sleep away from their already damaged houses in fear of further quakes.

A view of Kathmandu. Approximately 2.8 million people were displaced after the earthquake and shelters have been a common sight in Kathmandu and are there to stay, with the reconstruction estimated to take up to 10 years.

Volunteers from the action group Jay Nepal during a demolition. Partially damaged buildings have to be taken down and all the reusable materials are recycled. In the picture a wall is being pushed from a third floor before crashing down into the street below.

Women during Janai Purmina celebrations in Patan Durbar Square. After spending the day removing rubble from a collapsed building with the friends from Jay Nepal, I bumped into this busy, colorful celebration on the way home.  

Gai Jatra Festival in Bhaktapur. Spectators stand on a pile of bricks in the main square to view the procession of beautiful decorated chariots that parade through the town to celebrate the lives of deceased family members from the past year. Each chariot holds a photo of the dead person hung at it’s centre and is carried by the rest of the family.  

A monk feeds birds in the early hours of the morning in front of the humbling Boudhanath, the largest Stupa in Asia, being reconstructed after the top collapsed during the earthquake.

Bhaktapur was amongst one of the most badly affected districts in Nepal, with nearly 28,000 homes damaged and more than 300 deaths.  

A Tamang village in the outskirts of Dhulikel. While the western part of the country was left virtually unaffected, the Kathmandu Valley east of the epicentre located in Gorkha, was hit hard. Unesco World Heritage sites crumbled into piles of bricks and so did the numerous mud bricks buildings in the surrounding villages opening areas of devastation.

A Tamang village in the outskirts of Dhulikel. While the western part of the country was left virtually unaffected, the Kathmandu Valley east of the epicentre located in Gorkha, was hit hard. Unesco World Heritage sites crumbled into piles of bricks and so did the numerous mud bricks buildings in the surrounding villages opening areas of devastation.

A daily scene in the streets of Kathmandu, a city that homes more than 1 million people and was struck by the 2015 earthquake.  It is estimated that the reconstruction may take decades.  

With a magnitude of 7.8M,  the April 25 earthquake was not considered catastrophic in terms of it’s intensity.   The devastation came from the old and poorly constructed buildings which crumbled away and claimed the lives of 9000 Nepali people.   Modern buildings and reinforced concrete structures survived the hit.  

Kathmandu is an extremely busy, dusty and polluted city.  Electricity and street lights only run for a number of hours per day giving the way to private diesel generators when the power is cut off.

A daily scene in Kathmandu. The Himalayan capital has been struggling to return to normality due to the unstable political situation which has resulted in little of the foreign aid money being released for reconstruction.  
 

Bhaktapur. The earthquake damaged approximately 116 world heritage buildings throughout Nepal. Of them, 67 were completely destroyed, while 49 suffered from partial damage. The quake has badly damaged Durbar Square, a significant heritage site included in the UNESCO world heritage list.

Boudhanath the largest Stupa in Asia, is being reconstructed after the top collapsed. Besides from being at the centre of the Buddhist Tibetan community in Kathmandu, it is also one of main tourist attractions.

A Buddha statue being restored at Swayambhunath the monkey temple. The earthquake caused huge damages to the cultural heritage of the country.

Workers take a rest from sorting bricks from a partially demolished building.  All the reusable building material is saved while the rest goes to landfill. With very little machinery it’s very much a one-brick-at-a-time job.

Daily life in Kathmandu, a man walks a cow down the streets of Kathmandu. Nepalese people have been highly commended for their resilience in the face of such a huge tragedy.

A group of Nepalese men are seen sitting outside a teashop in Kathmandu.

Celebrating the "Constitution 2072", that took seven years in the making and comes after a month of heavy political unrest in the Terai region. While openly celebrated in major towns, the new charter leaves certain minority groups unhappy. This climate of political instability froze the 4.1Billion of international aid that were pledged by international donors.