Bhaktapur, Jan. 15 -- On a cold winter morning, a group of men are gathered at the base of Nyatapola temple in Taumadi Square, Bhaktapur. They are waiting for another delivery of bamboo, which they have been using to build scaffolding around the famed temple. Five years after 2015's deadly earthquake, the reconstruction has just begun.

"We feel we owe it to the goddess," says Ram Krishna Kiju, a resident of Suryabinak in Bhaktapur, who is taking part in the restoration of the temple. "The sooner we rebuild her home, the better our lives will become."

Bhaktapur has been commended for using local resources, both financial and labour, to build the toppled monuments around the Durbar Square area. Even when foreign donors offered help, espec...