The Tata Sumo crawls up the blacktop amid the howling winter supply trucks grinding their way to the Sadhna Pass — the only entry into Tangdhar valley at 11,000 feet. When the earth shook a year ago, this paradise, hidden behind the Shamasbari range of the Himalayas, suddenly turned into hell.

Dusk is falling as we descend into the valley through a disfigured highway negotiating muddy troughs, looking for the signposts of the quake that had hit 7.6 on the Richter: the carcasses of the vehicles that were caught unawares as the road beneath them slid, the concrete structures that were thrown hundreds of feet down like rag dolls. But today, the stark landscape is bare. Unlike last year, the narrow strips are not packed with relief vehicles or agitated villagers. On the surface, Tangdhar looks calm. Circles of rocks around former tent sites, black craters dug in the earth for community kitchens . But as we dig in, we realise quake and the pain inflicted by this calamity has become the only reality for thousands of residents. A brief reality check:

Tangdhar had lost 273 villagers in the quake while 3,500 were injured. The government estimates said 8,943 houses were completely destroyed; 540 were partially damaged. The government had recently claimed that 70 per cent of the reconstruction had already been completed. On the ground, reconstruction comprises a few houses and 1,545 plinths. Seventy per cent of the quake-hit population is gearing up to spend another winter in temporary shelters.

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