Brickmaking booms in post-quake Nepal

BHAKTAPUR, Nepal— The worn-out workers of Jaya Mayaswori Brick Factory are packing clay and hauling loads with a new sense of purpose— helping to rebuild Nepal after a series of massive earthquakes and aftershocks ravaged the Himalayan nation, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

There is urgency to the back-breaking work. Nepal was crippled by last month’s magnitude-7.8 earthquake, which killed more than 8,000, while a string of strong aftershocks has further terrified the survivors. The capital of Kathmandu is in shambles. Entire villages are flattened into rubble and dust. And many businesses have shut down, leaving survivors scrambling for income.

The brick factories clustered in Bhaktapur, a town on the outskirts of Kathmandu, are some of the few businesses still running. For the owners and workers who have not fled back to their villages, that means there is still a chance of earning daily wages and profits.

“I am making my contribution in the rebuilding our country by making these bricks,” said 17-yearold Barsa Pun Magar, who joined the factory six months ago.

“There has been so much destruction,” she said. “Every brick is going to help bring the country and people back on their feet.”

Though many of the factories have also been damaged, with kiln towers toppled and workers’ housing destroyed, those who remain are laboring overtime before the anticipated rush for construction materials. In a few weeks, monsoon will arrive and create impassable mud swamps, trigger landslides and pummel the tarpaulin tents providing shelter to many across the country.