Struggling amid the ruins a month after Nepal quake

It has been one month since the first of two major earthquakes struck Nepal, killing more than 8,000 people in one of the world’s least developed countries. Around the worst-affected areas, there are signs of both ruin and fledgling reconstruction. Shattered hotels sit at odd angles as frightened pedestrians scurry through their lopsided shadows. Nearby, temporary shelters are springing up along roadsides, made of salvaged materials – mostly wooden frames covered in corrugated iron roofing, some partially draped in plastic tarps. Knowing that rebuilding their homes will be difficult during the rapidly-approaching monsoon, people are hurrying to find or make shelters that will hopefully see them through the long rainy season. While the immediacy of the emergency efforts may have passed, there is enormous work ahead before anything akin to normal life can start again for millions of Nepalis.