Capturing resilience of post-earthquake Nepal

Chennai: “Nepal was never conquered and one earthquake ain’t gonna bring its spirits down,” said Rohit Abraham, one of the survivors of the Nepal earthquake. The earthquake that occurred on April 25 killed more than 9,000 people and injured over 23,000. Thousands of people were rendered homeless with entire villages flattened across many districts of the country and buildings centuries old were also destroyed at UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Nearly three months after the earthquake, Santhosh Loganaathan, a photographer, is doing a photo-project, ‘The Silence of Resilience’, focusing on the Architectural Recovery and the Social Resilience of the Kathmandu Valley. His project attempts to capture the resilience of Nepal, post the earthquakes that shook its historic fabric early this year. Loganaathan decided to document the impact of the earthquake on the heritage architecture of Nepal. “Through this process we realised that it’s not only about the architecture but also about the resilience of the country and the people itself,” he said.

The photographs were planned in such a way that they matched those from general archives in terms of scale and angle so that the impact was felt in a much more immersive manner, he explained. “We intend to document the upliftment of our neighbouring country by clicking pictures from the same angle for the next ten years at an interval of four months. We believe that through is project we will be able to showcase resilience and positivity of the people in a intense yet realistic manner,” he said.

The pictures also show another side that a place that was once so beautiful has been reduced to rubble. “The media was more focused on death and destruction but I decided to focus on the architecture of Nepal,” he said adding that the focus was not on destruction but the resilience of the people and how they are slowly but surely getting back to their lives. “The exhibition is a way of trying to portray the positive aspect about Nepal. People think Nepal is all gone and finished. But we wish to change that perception and wanted to be the voice for their resilience,” he said.

Reevez Antony, co-coordinator said, “After Chennai we now intend to take our expo to different cities so as to encourage tourism to Nepal. The media should have shown positive aspects and helped our neighbours. As it has not, we have taken it upon us to do what the media did not.”