Saptari, Oct. 18 -- As families across Nepal prepare for Dashain by cleaning their homes, buying new clothes and making plans to celebrate, residents of two settlements in Saptari are facing the festival without homes to return to. Fires have destroyed their houses and belongings, forcing them to live under tarpaulins and leaving them uncertain about how they will rebuild.

For Anjali Kumari Paswan of Badgama in Kanchanrup Municipality-10, the fire wiped out years of hard work in a single night.

"When our house caught fire, nothing was left. Even the anklets I had bought for my daughter with money earned from daily-wage work, along with my gold jewellery, were lost," she said. "All our food and clothes were burnt. The relief we have rece...