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Rebuilding still a dream for many of Nepal's quake survivors

Two years after the earthquake, most homes under reconstruction still remain stuck in the initial stages  
Rebuilding still a dream for many of Nepal's quake survivors

Birbal Tamang, whose village in Nepal was hit by landslide in the 2015 earthquake, stands outside his makeshift shelter in Rasuwa some 150kms northwest of Kathmandu on March 19. Two years after the earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people thousands of quake survivors still live in flimsy shelters. (Photo by Prakash Mathema/AFP)

Published: May 25, 2017 04:49 AM GMT
Updated: May 25, 2017 11:12 AM GMT

Our generation will never forget the 2015 earthquake. I was stunned when I heard that 100 percent damage was reported in my village Gorkha, at the earthquake's epicentre.

"Our hills were shaking, dry landslides disrupted our path and aftershocks hit every minute" an old woman, told me.

To explore the situation and verify the quality of services provided, I went on house visits in Sindhupalchowk during the emergency response period.

At 96-years-old, Bal Bahadur Budhathoki, who had experienced a similar earthquake in 1934 when he was just a young boy, told me several months after the quake that he has been living outside with limited supplies since the disaster struck. I was moved by his resilience and his strong hope for the future.

Two years later, I visited Bal Bahadru again to see if his situation had improved but he is still living in the field with his wife and grandchildren. His sons are migrants in Malaysia and so there are no men around to build them a new house.

It is similar across the country. Kamala Margarti in Gorkha is still living under tarpaulin sheets with her young son and husband. She does not have the money to build a new house. The family is surviving off the little money they make together.

Sabina Parajuli, a young woman from Kavre district has not been able to start rebuilding her family home. Despite a physical disability, she works hard in Kathmandu to support her younger siblings and elderly parents.

This is the reality of earthquake recovery in Nepal. Village lanes are still lined with debris. Non-fertile fields are occupied by temporary shelters where villagers have already spent two freezing winters.

My own family members and relatives have likewise not been able to start rebuilding their homes until today.

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) being the only legally-mandated agency in the country to carry out shelter reconstruction on behalf of the government have identified 717,251 families eligible for a housing grant in 31 earthquake-affected districts.

The government provides a subsidy equivalent to US$3,000 per family if they fulfill its code of conduct for building earthquake-resistant houses. The subsidy is normally provided in three installments but it took a year to initiate the first stage.

The Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC) is the central institution for implementation the building code and monitoring local bodies. The NRA and DUDBC together verify if houses under construction fulfill the code of conduct and whether or not to approve further payments. 

To date, just 22,544 families have completed reconstruction on their homes out of 544,996 families who received first portion of the grant. Only 10,213 families have received the second and just 723 families have received the third and last portion, according to NRA records.

That shows a huge volume of families (over 96 percent) identified by the NRA who do not have houses and very few have started digging foundations after they received the first payment. 

Most of the people who have finished construction did so on their own expense. The subsidy is nowhere close to the cost of construction so many had to take out loans.

Most houses being reconstructed are stuck in the initial stages because people cannot afford to go further. They cannot get the second payment if they do not complete a certain level of construction after receiving the first $500 which is barely sufficient to lay foundations.

Reconstruction has been paralyzed by the lack of skilled workers. Only 34,000 masons have trained to help with nationwide reconstruction. Furthermore, I have encountered many unskilled laborers from India coming to Nepal to work.

What will happen to our motto of "building back better" if we do not have sufficient skilled manpower?

In the villages it is common for many families to live together but after their common homes collapsed it is unlikely they will live together again. They can only afford to build separate houses now.

The grant application process is tedious and made harder by the lack of local government bodies at the village level. In some villages, groups of neighbors may help by guaranteeing a family is eligible to receive a grant but this does not occur easily. 

In numerous cases, many people do not have land ownership certificates which means they are missing from the grant beneficiary lists. There are already nearly 200,000 cases pending.

The Social Welfare Council monitors the development work of NGOs in the country. 

As we commemorate the second anniversary of the earthquake, despite billions pledged by international stakeholders, most affected people still don't have proper housing.

Over 300 international NGOs were active in the aftermath of the earthquake but only a handful are involved in reconstruction. With a target of about 12-15,000 houses, progress is tortoise-slow in areas under the NGO's remit.

A technical team appointed by NRA verifies whether or not the building code of conduct is being followed but, sadly, most villagers have not had anyone come to check. It is just another delay to add to the others: lack of technical assistance, access to loans and the absence of local government bodies to name a few.

Rebuilding earthquake-affected communities is not only about providing the basics or even about providing shelter, it also includes essential infrastructure and other aspects of social development.

Naturally, a lot of concern has been focused on giving people shelter but there are many more things needed and must be rebuilt simultaneously. 

Thousands of schools and health centers need to be reconstructed. Drinking water schemes, irrigation channels and rural roads must be repaired. World heritage sites were also badly damaged and need to be reconstructed.  

The Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) report said that Nepal requires over US$9 billion to rebuild but, while the international community pledged a total of US$4.2 billion, a substantial portion of that is a loan.

And just half of the pledges have been confirmed. Some donors have chosen their own projects to fund while others have not yielded a cent. Maybe coordination between the various government departments, funding agencies and NGOs should be enhanced.  

Reconstruction requires sustainable solutions not just fast moves. It does take years but it does not mean that people need to suffer for so long. Systems should be in place, the government should reach out to the poor with effective services and reconstruction should be sped up. 

Prakash Khadka is a peace and human rights activist as well as the Nepal representative of Pax Romana, the international Catholic movement for intellectual and cultural affairs.

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