Kathmandu - As she stares forlornly at the teetering wreck she still calls home, Sobha Shakya knows it will soon be reduced to rubble by bulldozers poised to obliterate thousands more buildings in Nepal's devastated capital.
The mammoth April 25 earthquake that killed upwards of 7,600 people reduced large areas of Kathmandu to ruins, flattening hundreds of houses as well as several centuries-old monuments.
But nearly two weeks on from the disaster, surveyors warn as many as a fifth of all homes are no longer habitable and will have to be razed to the ground by bulldozers or wrecking balls in coming weeks.
As Shakya's poorly constructed and top-heavy house started to crumble in downtown Kathmandu on April 25, she and her neighbours grabbed what they could and set up a makeshift camp in a nearby courtyard.
"These houses could collapse in a second if there is another earthquake. It's scary," she told AFP as she stared at a row of empty houses on her street propped up by wooden planks and metal pipes.
The neighbourhood consists of buildings dating back around a century, all of which have expanded vertically to accommodate growing families.
AFP
