Nepal keeps Covid at bay with community efforts
Maj Gen Ashok K Mehta (retd)
Military commentator
How has Nepal, with a population of 30 million, and whose many brave Gorkha citizens fight for and defend India, coped with the coronavirus or Covid-19, the invisible enemy? The legendary Gorkha khukuri had helped the British carve out an empire, stretching from Honduras to Hong Kong, and the stories of Gorkha valour have drawn envy and admiration equally from the Germans, Japanese, Turks, Argentinians and even the Chinese and Pakistanis who fought them. Today, it is not the khukuri, but the face mask, Lux soap, social distancing and community leadership spearheaded by mainly former Gorkha soldiers that have helped Nepal in keeping Covid-19 at bay — just nine cases, all imported, and no fatalities so far. The government imposed a weeklong lockdown on March 24 and extended it by another week.
I watched first-hand last month, briefly in Kathmandu, but mainly from the hillside, how the Nepalese confronted the menace with a smile and a namaste. Nepal is a nation of overseas adventurers — from soldiers who are called Lahures, to students and workers. At any one time, one-third of the Nepalese are abroad, mainly in West Asia, India and South East Asia, but also in the West — another 10 million are usually packed in the capital Kathmandu and the rest are spread sparsely between the rivers Mechi and Mahakali, the geographical boundaries. There was no evidence of fear or panic, instead of courage and composure that the Gorkhas have historically demonstrated in famous battles. Incidents of hoarding were reported…for example, looking for sanitisers near Pokhara, I was told they were sold out. At one pharmacy in Power House, the doctor, noticing an Army veteran, pulled out one he claimed was the last, for Rs 300 in Nepalese currency (about 190 INR). But otherwise, everything seemed pretty normal.
Elected, selected or nominated local leadership is provided by former soldiers like YB Gurung in Lameahal, a quiet township that came up two decades ago from the people who once lived atop the nearby hills. They descended into Pokhara valley to secure the benefits of development — piped water, electricity, schools, hospital and roads etc. The Lameahal cluster belongs to south of Seti river from the Anphu hills inhabited by mainly janjati Gurungs and Magars, who join the Indian Army. Here, everyone flocks to YB Sir, whether it is a police case, marriage or health emergency. He has been passing on to 100 households, instructions on keeping clean and an alert to steer clear of Covid-19. He reads the local papers, is online and plugged into radio, TV and social media. He’s also one on one with the Indian Army Pension Paying Office at Pokhara which has an Army doctor, Major Shiv Mehta and ECHS facilities.
YB takes me to meet Major Mehta who explains that most ex-servicemen and their families are cool and calm about the coronavirus threat. Living in difficult conditions, the hardy hill folk have developed a high degree of immunity to flu and other common ailments like cough and cold. They are strong in body, mind and spirit and have high tolerance threshold which has been buffeted by their careers in peace and war in the Indian Army and the other armies they join. Pokhara, the second biggest tourist attraction after Kathmandu, is developing furiously, given the $10 million remittance the Nepalese abroad add to make the GDP $35 billion. The Chinese are building a modern airport and work was in full swing after a temporary shutdown. But the Pokhara lakeside has taken a big hit with tourists drying up. By the end of March, some 700 foreign trekkers were traced across Nepal, stranded and were brought back to Kathmandu for evacuation to their countries.
Something extraordinary happened before March 24. Unlike the chaotic and disorderly reverse migration one saw in India, 90 per cent of the migrants evacuated Kathmandu and returned orderly to their villages, easing the congestion in Kathmandu. How they got word of the lockdown, the authorities are still trying to figure out. Khemjung Gurung, a political activist and former soldier from Lamjung, explained how the Besi Sahar township is being regularly sanitised and the lockdown observed meticulously. He also told me that many migrant workers on the border are stranded and are being quarantined by the local authorities. Gurung, who fought the 1965 war against Pakistan, said the South Asians are faring better than the West in the times of coronavirus because they eat ‘hot food and not junk food as in Europe.
Back in Lameahal, around where I stayed for nearly two weeks, we do our daily trek, to Anphu top, now denuded of houses that have relocated in Lameahal. But with roads, piped water and electricity having reached Anphu and its neighbourhood, most want to go back and enjoy the clean air and a commanding view of the Pokhara valley. YB wants his grandchildren to climb up the hill so that they are hardy and tough to face the corona-like viruses. Physical fitness is top priority with masked men and women, many exercising on bicycles. Add to this what village elders believe is Nepal’s elixir —kodo — made from millet, considered a good tonic to combat Covid.
Kathmandu had planned for this month, what its government considered the biggest challenge for mankind, a climate change summit, in the first Sagarmatha Samwad, which it has postponed to October. I met foreign minister Pradeep Gaywali whose brain child this is. Meanwhile, offers of help are lining up. China flew in a consignment of PPE which has been quarantined due to over-pricing. India, remembered as the first responder during the 2015 killer earthquake, has a rapid reaction team standing by. With a communist government in Nepal, the politics of balancing is inevitable, despite PM Modi’s Saarc video initiative last month. Still no one, especially the Gorkhas, are taking their new invisible enemy lightly in Nepal, remarkably with not a single death.
