Displacement and Migration Induced by 2015 Nepal Earthquake
Introduction
Located where the Indian plate collides with the Eurasian plate, Nepal has had a long history of earthquakes. However, the Nepal earthquake in 2015 was the worst natural disaster since the Nepal-Bihar earthquake in 1934. It was the largest disaster displacement event in the world in 2015. As a result, there was an increase in the migration of internally displaced persons (IDPs), the migration of guest workers and the trafficking of women and children. This article examines the scale, flow and factors of the migration that occurred. It also identifies the types of human migration which resulted from the disaster.
Background
On 25 April 2015, a devastating earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck Nepal, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, including a strong one with a magnitude of 7.3 on 12 May 2015. This triggered landslides and avalanches in mountainous regions of the country. Over this period, 8,856 people were killed and 22,309 people were injured. 882,000 houses and over 30,000 classrooms were destroyed or damaged. Additionally, 5 of the 8 UNESCO World Heritage cultural sites were destroyed or damaged. Overall, the economic loss was about US$ 7 billion. 8 million people across 31 of the country’s 75 districts were affected, where 14 were prioritized for humanitarian aid. In these districts, more than 2.6 million people were displaced, where 1.1 million were children. Consequently, Nepal was the third country in the world with the most new disaster displacements in 2015.
Migration of IDPs
After the first earthquake, most of the IDPs lived near their destroyed or damaged houses in makeshift shelters, constructed out of tin sheets, plastic tarpaulins and materials from their houses. Few of the IDPs, who chose to live in temporary camps, also returned to their houses within a week. This was because people thought that another major earthquake was unlikely to occur again soon and thus their houses were safe enough to live in. However, after the second earthquake, people’s perceptions of the safety of their houses changed. Therefore, many of the IDPs fled to live in camps. The number of IDPs living in 409 camps grew to 117,000 by the beginning of June 2015.
Over the next 13 months, the number of IDPs living in temporary camps decreased by 99,408 and the number of camps decreased by 344. Relief organizations, such as Oxfam International and Tearfund, started many programs to rebuild basic infrastructure, such as houses, schools, hospitals, toilets and roads. These programs provided safe houses, where people can return to live. They also created new jobs, where people can be paid to work. In contrast, IDPs lived in fear of eviction from camps, especially in the capital city of Kathmandu. Furthermore, there were reported cases of sexual violence and attempted rapes in camps. There was a lack of safety for those living in camps. With fewer jobs at camps, people were dependent on humanitarian aid. These push and pull factors together encouraged IDPs to leave the camps.
However, there were still 18,292 IDPs living in 65 temporary camps as of the beginning of August 2016. 35% of these IDPs expressed no intention of leaving camps. The main push factor preventing IDPs from returning to their houses was destroyed or damaged houses. Some wanted to claim government grants in order to rebuild their house. Unfortunately, they could not do so because they did not have any documentation showing that they owned the land on which their houses were built. This was very common since land was inherited from their parents without proper documentation. Before the earthquakes, at least 40,000 families did not have a land deed. Others wanted to rebuild their houses without government grants. Again, they could not do so because they did not have enough money to build new houses, which comply with the stricter building codes introduced by the government. Other push factors included a fear of aftershocks or landslides and inaccessibility to basic services such as water.
Migration of Guest Workers
Not only was there internal migration of IDPs, but also international migration of guest workers. Before the earthquakes, more than 2 million guest workers were employed in India, Malaysia and the Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates. They send home over US$ 6 billion each year. Since they were not in the country when the earthquakes struck, they were neither killed nor injured. The same thing cannot be said of their family members. Thus, many returned from overseas to look for their family members and rebuild their destroyed or damaged houses. They only had a short time to do so because their employers gave them a short leave of absence. However, some did not return because of intervening obstacles such as the cost of flight tickets and the difficulties of obtaining written permission from their employers.
Among the guest workers who returned to the country, many chose to remain due to a demand for construction workers after the earthquake. Salaries in the country had also increased. Additionally, the government introduced new regulations stopping recruitment agencies from charging guest workers for work visas and flight tickets. Consequently, there was a decrease in the number of people leaving for overseas employment each day from 1,500 to 900. Two more trends, related to the migration of guest workers, were identified. Because of the falling Malaysian currency, people preferred to migrate to the Gulf countries compared to Malaysia. Since money was needed urgently to rebuild destroyed or damaged houses, a new surge in outmigration of women began.
Trafficking of Women and Children
Many women thought that they were offered jobs with high salaries, but they soon discovered themselves to be victims of human trafficking. Before the earthquakes, about 12,000 to 15,000 women were trafficked across the borders of the country each year to India, South Africa, South Korea and the Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The lack of natural barriers such as the Himalayas and border security such as routine patrols enabled traffickers to move women from Nepal into the neighbouring country of India. This resulted in most of the women trafficked ending up as prostitutes in Indian brothels. Not only was India a destination country, but also a transit country. All of these factors allowed criminal networks to thrive. After the earthquake, women were particularly vulnerable due to the death of their family members or the loss of their jobs. There were reported cases of traffickers pretending to be volunteers from relief organizations or representatives from recruitment agencies. Traffickers made use of the opportunity to kidnap or attract women.
Children, especially those who have lost both their parents, were also the target of many traffickers. Many fended for themselves by moving to different places in search of food and jobs. In order to persuade children to follow them, traffickers used methods such as pretending to be volunteers from relief organizations, advertising jobs with high salaries or offering small amounts of food and money. The traffickers could sometimes be a family member which the children trusts. Children were then sold to large-scale traffickers, who smuggled them across the borders of the country to major cities in India, where they worked in brothels, circuses and factories under harsh conditions. More than 2,600 children in 3 of the country’s 75 districts were trafficked this way. The trend that most children were trafficked to closer countries rather than farther countries obeyed Zipf’s law. Additionally, the fact that most children were trafficked for a short distance and toward major cities followed one of Ravenstein’s laws. Fortunately, there were successful rescues of children from brothels and factories by the government and relief organizations.
Conclusion
By studying the scale, flow and factors of the migration, which resulted from the disaster, this article identifies the types of human migration that occurred. Firstly, there was an internal migration of IDPs and a rural-to-urban migration of IDPs. Secondly, migrants such as guest workers practiced international migration and periodic movement. Thirdly, women and children were victims of human trafficking, which is a form of forced migration. Step migration occurred when the country that they were trafficked to was not their final destination. The types of human migrations as a result of the earthquakes will play an important role in the rebuilding of basic infrastructure and lives in the country for the coming years.
