KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 1 More than two years after the 2023 earthquake tore through western Nepal, thousands of families are still waiting to return to permanent homes. Across districts like Jajarkot and surrounding areas, tin-roofed temporary shelters remain a harsh reality, stifling in summer, freezing in winter, and ill-suited for long-term living. While the government has announced reconstruction grants, the question many families face is not whether to rebuild, but how to do so safely and affordably. For Detroit2Nepal (D2N) and Build Up Nepal, the answer lies in changing the foundations of reconstruction itself. 'This was never about us rebuilding tens of thousands of houses,' said Richard Keidan, founder and director of Detroit2Nepal, a US-based non-profit that has worked in Nepal for more than a decade. 'That's simply not realistic. What matters is whether communities have the tools, skills and systems to rebuild on their own.' That thinking brought D2N together with Build Up Nepal, a Nepali social enterprise founded by Bjorn Sodberg in the aftermath of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. Sodberg, originally from Sweden, has lived in Nepal for over 25 years and has spent the last decade focused on making disaster-resilient housing affordable for low-income families. 'When we went to villages after the 2015 earthquake, the biggest problem wasn't willingness,' Sodberg said. 'People wanted safe homes. The problem was affordability. Building something strong enough to survive earthquakes was simply out of reach for many families.'

The solution Build Up Nepal developed centres on eco-bricks, also known as Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks (CSEB). Made from locally available soil, sand, stone dust and a small amount of cement, the bricks are pressed using machines and do not require firing in kilns. This makes them significantly cheaper than conventional fired bricks and far less harmful to the environment. 'In Nepal, brick kilns are one of the biggest sources of air pollution and carbon emissions,' Sodberg said. 'They also rely heavily on child labour. We knew there had to be a better way.' Beyond environmental benefits, the bricks are designed to improve earthquake safety. Their interlocking structure allows steel reinforcement bars to run vertically from the foundation to the roof, binding the entire building together. 'In traditional brick houses, once a wall starts failing, everything can collapse,' Keidan explained. 'With this system, the structure is tied together. It's much more resilient during earthquakes, and at the same time, it's cheaper.' According to Build Up Nepal, walls built with eco-bricks cost around 40 percent less than those made with fired bricks, reducing the overall cost of a house by roughly 25 percent. For families relying on government reconstruction grants of Rs 4,00,000, that cost reduction can determine whether rebuilding is possible at all. Following the 2023 earthquake, D2N and Build Up Nepal shifted their focus to western Nepal, where an estimated 79,000 houses were damaged or destroyed. While emergency relief initially took priority, both organisations soon turned their attention to long-term reconstruction. 'What we learned from past disasters is that rebuilding has to be proactive, not reactive,' Keidan said. 'The real cost of earthquakes is lost lives, disrupted education, health risks, and years spent living in unsafe conditions.' Rather than adopting a traditional charity model, Build Up Nepal works by empowering local entrepreneurs. Community members are trained to produce eco-bricks, supported in acquiring machinery costing around USD 5,000, and guided on quality control. Local masons are trained in earthquake-resistant construction, while communities and local governments are introduced to the technology through workshops and demonstrations. 'We don't make bricks ourselves,' Sodberg said. 'We teach people how to do it. The idea is that communities rebuild their own homes, with their own labour and investment.' To date, Build Up Nepal has supported 220 brick-producing micro-enterprises across 59 districts and contributed to the construction of more than 12,000 houses nationwide. Through the partnership with D2N, over 300 local masons have been trained, and a school built using eco-bricks now stands as a model structure in the earthquake-affected region. 'People need to see it to believe it,' Keidan said. 'Once they walk into a school or a neighbour's house built this way, the conversation changes.' Despite the progress, delays in the release of government reconstruction grants remain the biggest challenge. Many families, ready to rebuild, are still waiting more than two years after the earthquake. 'Living in temporary shelters for this long affects everything including health, hygiene, safety, children's education,' Sodberg said. 'The people are ready. The system just needs to move faster.' Both organisations remain cautiously optimistic that reconstruction will accelerate once grants are fully released. Their longer-term hope is that eco-bricks and seismic-resistant construction will be adopted more widely, before the next disaster strikes. 'Earthquakes in Nepal are not a matter of if, but when,' Keidan said. 'If we can prepare now, we can save lives later.' For Sodberg, the goal is simple but ambitious. 'Everyone deserves a safe home,' he said. 'Not just those who can afford concrete and steel, but everyone.'