Feature: Muslim girls in Kathmandu live in different world after quake

Thirteen-year-old Nargis Banu has been grown up roaming and playing around Patan Durbar Square, filled with fantastic wood crafts and magnificent pagoda style temples dated back hundreds of years ago, until last Saturday.

Now she is living in a brave new world, after the devastating quake destroyed the famous world attraction and UNESCO heritage treasure.

The landscape, which looked like a bombed area, has totally changed for her and her friend, Namira Bani, who is 12 years old. "We feel like it is totally a new place. A sort of charm has lost. We often woke up in the night after having a nightmare, in which we saw our country was completely destroyed,"said Banu.

For Banu, her three generations have spent their life in this beautiful place and a magnificent tourist zone with semi-European, semi-Himalayan architecture, cafes, bars, restaurants and hotels.

She was watching television on Saturday, when the massive earthquake jolted Nepal turning this cultural heritage site into a depressing and barren land, with only rubbles and dust left.

Some ancient temples of Patan, with the world unique grandiose Himalayan style of towers, have been destroyed by the earthquake, which have terrified the locals. "We could not enter our two-storied building since the last five days in fear of aftershocks. My house has been partially damaged so we are living in school premise,"said Banu's father, a local Muslim businessman.

More than 169 people have been confirmed dead in Lalitpur district of Kathmandu Valley where Patan is located.

Along with Banu's family, some 300 locals have been staying in the classrooms of Shree Adarsha Kanya Niketan Higher Secondary School just at the central plaza of the temple complex because they are too afraid to live in their houses full of cracks on the wall.

Even in this humanitarian crisis period, the scenario of the school looks warm as the people is seen helping each other.

People from different communities like Hindu, Christians, Muslims and Buddhists are living in harmony under the same roof.

But there are still fears for aftershocks which terrified people from returning to their houses to resume their daily lives.

"I see earthquake even in my dreams. It feels like earth is shaking time and again. It's the biggest nightmare,"said Bani.

Schools remain closed. Thousands of girls like Banu have to wait for the classrooms to be reopened for teaching instead of serving as a temporary shelter for quake-displaced families. Endi