First, an Earthquake Struck Nepal—Now, the Nation Is Dealing With Another Disaster

Combined, the earthquake and the fuel shortage had a considerable impact on Nepal’s tourism economy.
First, an Earthquake Struck Nepal—Now, the Nation Is Dealing With Another Disaster
Many places in Nepal are still only accessible on foot. Nolan Peterson/The Daily Signal
Nolan Peterson
Updated:

POKHARA, Nepal—In 2010 Dilu Ranabath left Nepal to find work in Iraq. He took out a $4,000 bank loan to pay a fixer to get him into the country without a visa and to find him a job at a U.S. military base.

For about three months Ranabath lived in a shipping container in Baghdad with 30 other Nepalese men while he waited to land a job. Since he was in Iraq illegally, he wasn’t able to rent a hotel room or an apartment. At night in Baghdad, he said, he could hear the distant explosions of bombs and the sounds of gunfire. During the days he was on virtual lockdown, unable to move freely due to his illegal immigration status and the threat of terrorism.

“Iraq was a very scary place,” said Ranabath, who is now manager of the Silver Oaks Inn in the Nepali town of Pokhara, during an interview. “But I made a lot more money than I could in Nepal.”

Ranabath eventually secured a job with the ITT Corporation, a U.S.-based civilian defense contractor, working maintenance at the U.S. military’s Tallil Air Base. Ranabath worked in Iraq until U.S. forces withdrew in December 2011 and ITT’s contract ended.

Pokhara, Nepal's second largest city, sits on Phewa Lake beneath the Himalayas. (Nolan Peterson/The Daily Signal)
Pokhara, Nepal's second largest city, sits on Phewa Lake beneath the Himalayas. Nolan Peterson/The Daily Signal
Nolan Peterson
Nolan Peterson
Author
Nolan Peterson is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and an independent defense consultant based in Kyiv and Washington. A former U.S. Air Force Special Operations pilot and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Peterson has more than nine years of experience reporting from Ukraine's front lines.
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