“Hmm, so you are from Neigh-paal. But there was an earthquake, yes? Everything is fine? You are okay?”

Soon, we were cleared out and we stepped into the hot, burning air of the city. Throughout our stay, we heard much about the quake from South Indians; the earthquake seemed to have affected them more severely than it had us.

In the immediate aftermath of the Great Quake, the Indian media had faced serious social media backlash from Nepali people; the hashtag #GoHomeIndianMedia was a globally trending topic on Twitter as early as May 4. The fundamental concerns the Nepalis posed were those of the Indian Air Force travelling to areas severely hit by the quake primarily for the purpose of televising the situation; that the Air Force was only motivated to evacuate Indian citizens from disaster-stricken areas, rather than all those affected; and more prominently, that the media was showcasing Nepal as a virtual wasteland, drowned in the carcasses of buildings and people—some went as far as to accuse the media of televising footage from the 1967 Vietnam war.

All of these were quite valid concerns. Last week, I interviewed Google employee Stacie Chan, who was here along with 34 other Google employees for a three-day marathon organised by Startup Weekend Kathmandu. Chan expressed how Nepal “pleasantly surprised” her when she landed here. “Initially, there were images of disaster and horror all over the Internet. People were scared—and not without reason. But now, we need to let people know Nepal for what it is. We need to let people know that Nepal is rising.”

There are challenges that we face as we enter the reconstruction phase. One is that of uplifting the tourism industry. The tourism industry is one of the most important industries in Nepal; every six tourists that visit create one job.  In 2013 alone, approximately 7, 98,000 tourists entered Nepal. In the aftermath of the quakes, the tourism industry barely survived; tourist numbers plunged by 90 percent between May and July.

The parallel that can be drawn is that between the Western media’s portrayal of Nepal and that of the Indian media. While Western media outlets have not distanced themselves from showcasing Nepal as disaster-stricken, suffering, they have not suffered as much social media backlash as have the Indian media—although there surely are other politically driven motives behind the #GoHome movement.

“This earthquake is also an economic one,” said Chan; she also added that, in the preliminary phases of reconstruction, our focus should be on recovering the tourism industry in terms of the revenue lost during and after the quake. “People were scared, but there’s no reason to be anymore. True stories from Nepal should be in the news, and tourists from all over the world should be constantly updated about the situation here in Nepal.” Aside from the sensationalising by media outlets of the disaster in Nepal, another problem that Nepal faces is how travel advisories will endorse the country. To date, the US Passports & International Travel website hosts a warning for all US citizens, recommending that they exercise “caution [in travelling to Nepal] following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake on April 25.” When travel advisories of this nature are issued, insurance coverage also becomes more expensive—hence discouraging tourists from visiting Nepal, owing to costs both financial and otherwise.

However, travel advisories are not permanent dents to the country’s image; as the situation on the ground stabilises, travel advisories will also change. The challenge that faces us is the ‘how’: how do we change Nepal’s image in the global media? The #GoHome movement served well to show the entire world that misrepresentation through the media is to be recognised very early in Nepal and widely condemned. Initially, Nepal was covered overwhelmingly in the global media. Now, there is very little or no coverage on part of the Western media. Nepal is, however, listed as a dangerous zone for travel in the travel advisories issued by different countries. Does this not present Nepal as an almost lost case?

And so, the biggest challenge that faces us is that of keeping Nepal in the news: we need to publish long-form ethnographic pieces of stories that show how we have risen from the dust and the debris. We need each major Nepali publishing house with some international presence (or online presence) to publish at least one article every week about what is happening in Nepal.

But what is really happening in Nepal? What are we going to write about? In the immediate aftermath, there were several anguished pleas, from Nepalis themselves, on social media about the distrust the people felt towards our government. “Please don’t donate to the Prime Minister’s relief fund,” some Facebook statuses read. “The government of Nepal is corrupt and all the money you donate will go into politicians’ pockets.” The truth behind these allegations is a debate for another time, but the sense of desperation behind it must be discussed: this was from the relief phase, when lives depended on aid and donations meant a lot for the people who had lost their homes and families. Now, there is an economic calamity we have to address; and so, we have to write about this.

About the three durbar squares—Bhaktapur, Patan, and Basantapur—reopening amidst a celebration featuring dancers and singers heavily clad in traditional dresses. Or that the famous Annapurna Circuit and the Khumbu Trail have been deemed safe by the Tourism Board, and that the mountain trails will be welcoming tourists soon again. Or that 90 percent of all hotels throughout Kathmandu are safe and operational and hence tourists will face very little problems with lodging. “This is our time to turn the negatives into the positives,” says Ramesh Kumar Adhikari, administrative chief of the Nepal Tourism Board. “We have been constantly working on disseminating information about Nepal via the media, or via diplomatic sit-downs with different country representatives to reconfigure their travel advisories. Our target is to increase the number of tourists in the months of September, October and November; but only the tourist flow will be able to show the results.”

“All the foreigners who have come here have been surprised that normalcy is already underway in the Capital and in cities such as Pokhara after quakes of  such magnitudes. Now, I am certain they will convince their friends to visit Nepal,” Adhikari added.

There is also the prospect of volunteer tourism: there are a substantial number of people who want to help Nepal, and aid has arrived in many ways—but the type of aid we need now is in the form of business. “The National Tourism Promotion Committee is already evaluating this idea of volunteer tourism,” Adhikari said. “Ours is a simple motto: Forget the past, target the future. This is how Nepal will be known around the world.”

We have to work towards rebranding Nepal. What we write now will not have that sense of despair that pervaded our Facebook statuses and Twitter feeds in the days that followed the Great Quake. Instead, it will reflect the resilience with which we have fought through this despair; it will trumpet the fact that Nepal is rising.