Nepalese Christians are mourning the loss of many after a series of devastating earthquakes in early November.
On Friday, November 3, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake shaken in the mountainous Nepali villages of Jajarkot and Rukum West just before midnight, burying residents under layers of rubble as they slept. A subsequent earthquake occurred on Monday, November 6, this time measuring 5.2 magnitude.
Many rural churches established in West Rukum, Jajarkot and Kalikot districts have been “razed to the ground”, Hanok Tamang, president of the National Association of Churches of Nepal, told CT. “It is true that many pastors, leaders and Christians have died. »
The Nepal Current population is 31 million and is divided into seven states and 77 districts. The areas affected by the earthquake are located in the Midwest region of the country.
The overall estimate death toll there are more than 150 people to date, including more than 80 children, according to the non-governmental organization Save The Children. The villagers took sleep outside, in freezing conditions, for fear of persistent aftershocks, but also because their homes have been destroyed.
The earthquakes of 2023 are the “the deadliest” occurred since the devastating earthquake of 2015 near the city of Kathmandu, when believers went to church on a Saturday, because Sunday is a working day. “Many Christians were buried while worshiping the Sabbath and died,” said Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nepal President Umesh Pokharel. said Adventist Magazine at the time.
Nepal’s Christians make up between 1 and 3 percent of the population, and Protestants were disproportionately so. affected during the 2015 disaster, a Catholic leader said.
Preliminary reports from Nepali Christian leaders reveal that believers and churches suffered significant losses after the earthquake. This could put additional pressure on the Nepalese Church, which had more than 130 pastors. perish during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Some members of our church family have died. Houses are destroyed and children have died because of the earthquake,” said a pastor named Samjay.
“Pastor Judah lost five members of his family… His daughter and four grandchildren lost their lives in the earthquake. » said Tanka, a Christian from western Nepal working with the interfaith aid agency Barnabas Aid.
Three churches affiliated with The US-based global mission agency, GFA World, was “severely affected” and three church members in one village were affected. kill. Some members of the Eastern Believers Church Also lost their lives.
More than 40 believers are injured and 13 church buildings have collapsed or been damaged, according to estimates by BP Khanal, Nepalese coordinator of the International Group of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief.
But other Church leaders believe the extent of the damage and suffering is much greater. “More than 300 Christian families are affected out of 6,000 to 7,000 households affected in total,” said Mukunda Sharma, senior pastor of Bethel Assembly Church in CT.
Humanitarian aid arrives in trickles because the villages are in remote places and often difficult to access. But Christians have mobilized their efforts to help those affected by the earthquakes.
A team from Believers Eastern Church went to a village and distributed blankets and tarpaulins for makeshift tents, as well as essential food items like bags of rice and noodles. GFA World Church Volunteers mounted in villages on motorbikes to distribute food. The Catholic charity Caritas Nepal has also started distribute blankets, clothing, tents and tarpaulins for families.
But more help is desperately needed, says Sharma, who has since traveled to the disaster-hit area to support relief efforts. “No one helps. People don’t have money to help. The churches here don’t have money to help,” he said.
The government assistance does not go directly to the victims but is paid to the respective municipalities, Sharma explained.
“The difficulty is that Christians are excluded (from aid). If we get funding and response from people around the world, Christian societies will take the appropriate permission and distribute it to affected Christians, but so far we have not received help from anywhere.
“Keep Nepal on the radar of your collective intercession,” urged Tamang.
The deaths of Nepali Christians could spark renewed attention to the issue of burial. In this predominantly Hindu country, most people cremate their dead. Believers are often unable to bury their loved oneswhether due to the lack of available public cemeteries or due to bans issued by the government.
Without the possibility of a burial, funerals often do not take place. Most evangelicals in Nepal have been forced to cremate their dead – which Hindus practice – or travel to other parts of the country, and even to India, to bury their loved ones.
As believers try to rebuild their lives and places of worship after the earthquakes, they do so against a backdrop of growing persecution against Christians in Nepal.
At least seven attacks took place across the country between August and September this year, according to a report from International Christian Concern. People broke church windows and members of a community in the southern province of Lumbini attacked two pastors in the street.
Kechav Archarya, pastor of Abundant Harvest Church in Pokhara, Nepal, was sentenced to one year in prison and fined 10,000 Nepalese rupees (US$75) for proselytizing. An attempt to appeal the conviction was rejected by Nepal’s Supreme Court on October 6.
“Pastor Keshav Acharya did not use coercion to convert anyone to Christianity” said Joseph Jansen, president of the advocacy group Voice for Justice, in an interview with Asia News Last year.
“The pastor only exercised his right to freedom of religion and committed no offense. It is unfortunate that Nepal’s anti-conversion laws are formulated and enforced in such a way that they can also be applied as anti-blasphemy measures.”
The law, promulgated in 2017, criminalizes religious conversion and came a year after courts dropped charges against eight Nepali Christians accused of evangelize to children at a Christian school after the 2015 earthquakes.
This story is developing and will be updated.
Additional reporting by Surinder Kaur
