It looks like there's been a war here. Some houses are still standing, but most others look like nothing but piles of rubble. Driving through the villages from Kathmandu to Chautara, it is just village after village of complete devastation. There are people either sitting on the side of the road, or sitting on the pile of debris that must have once have been their homes. This is their homeland, this is where they have grown up, married and had children, and they look more lost and out of place here than we do.

Ninety percent of the houses in Chautara have either been damaged or completely destroyed as a result of the earthquake. Driving on the unsealed road up through the mountains, you have the feeling that you are driving to the edge of the world. But when you get to the end of the road, you find what would have once been a thriving village. Now there is a Red Cross field hospital, a humanitarian hub where the ETC is providing internet services, and a lot of people sitting around, not quite sure what to do to start recovering from this massive disaster.

We drove past a semi-collapsed wall during our journey. It had spray paint on it, almost like western street tagging. It definitely wasn't a random tag though. It was the markings left behind from the search and rescue team who had been here digging through the rubble for those who had survived, and those who hadn't. The marking indicated the date, the search and rescue team which had cleared the area, and the number of bodies found.

Word ‘on the street' has it that the communities have already resigned themselves to the fact that it will takes years to recover from this. Building homes is relatively easy. What is difficult though is clearing and removing the thousands of piles of rubble, debris and twisted metal from these remote mountain top villages.

In different circumstances, the drive to Chautara would have been quite beautiful. The steep cliffs, the green trees, the perfectly cultivated rice paddy fields. Nepal is a wonderland for the outdoorsy type. Right now though, the beauty is marred by the violent orange spots scattered amongst the greenery. These are the tarpaulins being used by yet another family which has lost their home, and probably even more.

By Mariko Hall, deployed as ETC Nepal IM Officer

Photos: WFP/ Mariko Hall; WFP/ Rob Buurveld