Nepal, Aug. 17 -- The main streets of Kathmandu were surprisingly clear on the late April morning as we made our way to the office of the Minister of Urban Development in response to his urgent call.

Only a few days after the massive earthquake that had rocked Nepal in 2015, the debris of broken walls and fallen electricity lines littered the roadside, but most buildings were still intact.

A small aftershock, undetectable from the car, brought people hastening out of their homes, the fear and uncertainty of the past catastrophic days etched onto their faces. With me was a New Zealand government official who had just arrived from Wellington to join the consular team which had gathered from the High Commission in New Delhi and beyond to ...