quake still fresh in memory, scampered out of their homes onto the roads and were reluctant to return fearing aftershocks.

Following the quake, power supply was switched off by the authorities for about 20 minutes before it was restored but telecom and Internet links were disrupted. The tremor came on a day when people across Sikkim performed ‘puja’ not only to remember those who perished in last year’s quake but also praying against recurrence of a similar disaster.
 
It’s been a year since the mega earthquake rocked Sikkim wiping out many lives. Chungthang, one of the worst-affected areas, where survivors are reminded of the trauma every day looks almost frozen in time. People continue to live with gaping cracks in unsafe buildings ducking death everyday. While some like 56-year-old Paden Lepcha live cramped with their belongings put together under a roof of  borrowed tins. “We had heard that the government would demolish the house and build a new one. Nothing has happened. We don’t have money to demolish our house or build a new one,” Paden Lepcha says. Another quake victim Passangkit Lepcha says, “If an earthquake comes, it’s better to die in our own house, we are compelled to stay here. We have nowhere to go.”

The children of the Everest Academy study under the constant threat of boulders tumbling down from the hills. Half of the students have left the school out of fear. At Moonlight School, classes are held in what used to be a stable, often three at a time. Passang Lhamu Scherpa, a teacher at Moonlight School, says, “When it rains it gets muddy, children have a tough time. Earlier this was a stable, many children fell ill.”

Fresh, massive landslides have washed away the roads. Tourist destinations like Lachung and Lachen often remain cut off. 28-year-old Sandhya rests her hopes on God to save her from the big chasm towering over her small shop. She says it scares her when it rains. So what accounts for this extreme delay? The state government says it’s the weather and the Centre. Karma Gyatso, Chief Secretary, Sikkim, says, “Out of the Rs 1,000 crore promised, we have got only Rs 200 crore. I think that speaks a lot.”

Even though the government has provided immediate relief, the long term relief and rehabilitation plan for thousands of people who were affected continues to be implemented at a slow pace on the ground, the scars of the earthquake might heal with time but the delay by the administration is a brutal reminder of what changed their lives forever.