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Story highlights
- The devastating 2015 earthquake in Nepal killed thousands and leveled tens of thousands of homes
- Rebuilding efforts include one small agency's focus on one small village
(CNN)Two years after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal, killing nearly 9,000 people and causing extensive damages to property, residents are still reeling from the tragedy — especially in remote villages, where aid has been slow to arrive.
Many villages have turned to international nongovernmental organizations for help. Though it's not always possible for these NGOs to meet all the communities' needs, they do bring hope and some relief to beleaguered residents.
One such organization is Conscious Impact, a small nonprofit working to rebuild Takure, a low-income, farming village in the Sindhupalchowk District, about 30 miles northeast of Kathmandu.
The April 25, 2015, earthquake and its subsequent aftershocks decimated all but one of Takure's 245 structures, according to residents. Homes, buildings and schools laid waste in piles of rubble as families worked to assess the damage.
While there's no official death toll for Takure, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) lists Sindhupalchowk as one of the "worst-affected districts" in all of Nepal. Official figures say 3,570 people died and more than 90,000 homes were destroyed in Sindhupalchowk alone.
Sunita Tamang, a widowed mother living in Takure, described the quake's tragic aftermath: "Everywhere I went -- in and around my village -- I saw people who lost their loved ones."
Tamang's husband died two months before the earthquake. "My husband was the only person I had to take care of me," she says, "but now, looking at my three children, I am living my life to take care of them."
Chitra Kumari, the president of a women's cooperative in Nawalpur, another village in Sindhupalchok District near Takure, said those fortunate enough to escape death found themselves immersed in "personal loss, economic loss, and social chaos."
She says all the training Nepali people received in earthquake preparedness, "like to crawl under beds and tables, could not have helped people survive."
Since the quake, many of Takure's men have left to find work in bigger cities like Kathmandu. For those who stayed, corrugated makeshift shelters made from salvaged materials have become their new homes.
Photos: Powerful earthquake hits Nepal
Nepalese police officers clear debris from Durbar Square in Kathmandu on Sunday, May 3. A magnitude-7.8 earthquake centered less than 50 miles from Kathmandu rocked Nepal with devastating force Saturday, April 25. The earthquake and its aftershocks have turned one of the world's most scenic regions into a panorama of devastation, killing and injuring thousands.
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An injured Nepalese woman is carried by villagers toward an Indian army helicopter to be airlifted from Philim village in Gorkha district in Nepal on May 3.
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Members of the Tsayana family warm themselves next to a fire outside their damaged house on May 3 in Bhaktapur, Nepal.
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A woman receives comfort during the funeral of her mother, a victim of Nepal's deadly earthquake, on Friday, May 1, in Kathmandu.
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Hindu priests perform rituals during the cremations of victims at the Pashupatinath Temple on the banks of the Bagmati River in Kathmandu on May 1.
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People await aid from an Indian army helicopter in front of damaged homes in Kulgaun, Nepal, on May 1.
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An injured woman gets carried on a stretcher at Kathmandu's airport after being evacuated from Melamchi, Nepal, on May 1.
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A member of the Los Angeles County Fire Department guides his sniffing dog through a collapsed building in Kathmandu on Thursday, April 30.
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A teenage boy gets rushed to a hospital April 30 after being rescued from the debris of a building in Kathmandu days after the earthquake.
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A man is freed from the ruins of a hotel by French rescuers in the Gangabu area of Kathmandu on Tuesday, April 28. Reuters identified the man as Rishi Khanal.
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Nepalese military police search through rubble outside Kathmandu on April 28.
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People rest April 28 in a temporary housing camp in Kathmandu. Large encampments of tents have sprung up in open areas, including a wide space belonging to the military in the center of the capital.
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A family collects belongings from their home in Bhaktapur, Nepal, on Monday, April 27.
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Damaged buildings lean to the side in Kathmandu on April 27.
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Members of the Nepalese army retrieve bodies from a collapsed building in Bhaktapur near Kathmandu on April 27.
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Nepalese soldiers carry a wounded woman to a helicopter as they evacuate people from Trishuli Bazar, Nepal, on April 27.
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People charge their cell phones in an open area in Kathmandu on April 27.
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Emergency personnel evacuate an injured man to a waiting helicopter in Trishuli Bazar on April 27.
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An aerial view of the devastation in Kathmandu on April 27. The destruction in Nepal's capital is stark: revered temples reduced to rubble, people buried in the wreckage of their homes, hospitals short on medical supplies overflowing with patients.
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Residents rescue items from the debris of houses damaged in the quake in Kathmandu on April 27.
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An aervial view shows ruined buildings in Trishuli Bazar on April 27.
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A woman prays at a ruined temple in Kathmandu on April 27.
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People rest in temporary shelters in Kathmandu on April 27.
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Residents cycle over damaged roads on the outskirts of Kathmandu on Sunday, April 26.
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Four-month-old Sonit Awal is held up by Nepalese army soldiers after being rescued from the rubble of his house in Bhaktapur, Nepal, on April 26.
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The newspaper that provided photographs of the baby's rescue says the Nepalese army initially left the site, thinking the baby had not survived. Hours later when the infant's cries were heard, soldiers came back and rescued him.
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The newspaper adds the Nepalese Army had initially failed to rescue the baby and left the site thinking the baby had not survived. Hours later when the baby's cries were heard the army came back and rescued him.
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A woman cries after identifying the body of a relative in Bhaktapur on April 26.
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Men clear debris in Bhaktapur on April 26.
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A truck evacuates residents from Kathmandu on April 26.
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A Buddha statue is surrounded by debris on April 26 from a collapsed temple in the UNESCO world heritage site of Bhaktapur.
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An elderly woman is helped to her home after being treated for her injuries in Bhaktapur on April 26.
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Family members break down on April 26 during the cremation of a loved one killed in Bhaktapur.
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Smoke from funeral pyres fills the air at the Pashupatinath temple on the banks of Bagmati River in Kathmandu on April 26.
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Members of India's National Disaster Response Force look for survivors in Kathmandu on April 26.
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Rescue workers remove debris on April 26 as they search for victims in Bhaktapur.
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People look at the debris of one of the oldest temples in Kathmandu on April 26.
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People sleep on a street in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Saturday, April 25. A seemingly endless series of aftershocks continued to roil the area, further traumatizing survivors.
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Civilian rescuers carry a person on a stretcher in Kathmandu on April 25.
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People try to free a man from the rubble in Kathmandu on April 25. Cheers rose from the piles when people were found alive -- but mostly bodies turned up.
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Pedestrians walk past collapsed buildings in Kathmandu on April 25.
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