Nepal’s government is led by a 36-year-old former engineer turned rapper, Balendra Shah, who swept to power just months ago on the back of youth anger over an economy troubled by corruption and mismanagement.
Now, he and his fledgling government face a herculean test after devastating floods ravaged his impoverished country. A majority of Mr. Shah’s 17 ministers are under 40, and they were still finding their way around governance before the disaster struck.
Five days after a deluge caused by a glacier breaking in the Himalayas flooded northern Nepal and parts of Tibet, the number of missing in Nepal jumped Monday to more than 4,700 and the death toll rose past 900 as the scale of the disaster became more apparent.
Mr. Shah has not spoken publicly since the floods. Rather, he has visited places affected by the disaster, wearing his trademark double-breasted suit, black shades and white sneakers. He has led meetings with his ministers, who have also been in the field overseeing emergency efforts.
“There can be no greater pain than losing loved ones, homes and livelihoods,” Mr. Shah, who prefers communicating on social media to taking questions from reporters, said in a statement on Facebook on Sunday. He added, “Without making excuses, we have mobilized the entire state machinery on a war footing and are working around the clock to save lives and provide relief to every citizen in the affected areas.”
The task is daunting. Entire towns have been wiped out, and tens of miles of infrastructure are devastated. Rescue operations at tunnels of hydropower projects have been slow, with the military struggling to drill openings through mounds of debris.
When Mr. Shah looks up from the immediate work of emergency response, he is likely to find a country with the deeper economic woes that inevitably follow natural disasters.
That is bad news for Nepal, which was already one of the world’s poorest nations and struggled to meet its basic needs. But analysts say it is even more demoralizing for a government that was grappling with how to deliver on the populist promises that helped it defeat the old guard.
Mr. Shah’s strength has been in a populist wave he rode by responding to demands from a large disillusioned youth population forced to seek jobs abroad. Even before the floods, analysts said, he began to realize the honeymoon period was over. His grip over the social media narrative was waning as he faced the realities of insufficient funds for his agenda and an entrenched bureaucracy.
“This government’s focus has been ‘Let’s build this economy, let’s create jobs, let us create small and medium enterprises, let’s create start-ups,’” said Lila Pieters Yahia, the top United Nations official in the country. “For this government, who is putting the pillars, the foundation of a new economic model, having this hitting you now? You can imagine.”
