Sun Kumar Datheputhe had planned to migrate to a Gulf country as an unskilled construction worker to support his 11-member family and fund the rebuilding of his home in the village of Changunarayanin Bhaktapur, a heritage area about 20 kilometers north east from Kathmandu, after the 25 April earthquake flattened much of his village and many other parts of Nepal.

Today, however, he is eagerly honing his masonry skills so that he can rebuild not only his own home, but also find work rebuilding others. Moreover, he is learning to build them better than they were before. “I am acquiring knowledge and skills to build earthquake-resilient structures. I will be applying these while constructing buildings and houses in future,’’ said 37-year-old Datheputhe. Datheputhe has been working as a mason for a few years using traditional building techniques. He is participating in 390 hours of training in earthquake-resilient building methods. — blogs.adb.org/blog