We, people of Nepal and all over the world, sorrowfully marked one year of the gravely devastating Nepal earthquake, which had claimed the lives of nearly 9,000 people, wiped out villages and left millions homeless, on the 24th and 25th April this year.
One year after the earthquake, all the Nepalese are trying to heal and get their lives back to how it was before. But, when we look back at the struggles people are facing, it hasn’t been so easy to most. A year went by hearing heartbreaking stories of how the survivors have been continuing their lives and livelihood, embracing their loss and pain, and moving on.
There’s still a lot to do and problems to face. After facing woes of wildfires for some months, now thousands of people will have to live through another monsoon in leaking temporary shelters and children will have to study in TLCs which weren’t built to be used for so long period of time. Houses and schools need immediate reconstruction as it is increasing the risk of insecurity, less productivity and absence of basic human rights.
The earthquake caused about $7 billion worth of damage across the country as estimated by NSET. According to the International Federation of Red Cross, approximately 4 million people are still living in unsafe temporary shelters or shelters built from what they could get out their previously destroyed houses. While, UNICEF estimates that more than 200,000 families are still living in temporary shelters.
Promulgation of the constitution, and the Terai movement and unofficial border blockade for 135 days that followed the quake, caused even the people and organizations who were working to slow down. India-Nepal border was the access point of imports, which caused shortage of fuel and supplies that almost halted the rebuilding process for months.
Cultural heritage sites, some listed as UNESCO world heritage sites, are as they were just after the earthquake, though, debris has been cleared from most of the places. The monsoon is likely to deteriorate the leftover structures. It will surely take decades to get to where and how Nepal was before the earthquake.
$4.1 billion was pledged to be given as international loans and grants by foreign governments and international donors to the Nepalese government, but the government so far has received just $1.28 billion according to The Canadian Press, while people in need have not got what they were supposed to.
Gross Domestic Product rate has been projected to be 0.77 percent by Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) during the fiscal year of 2015/2016, which is the lowest in 14 years, as trade, manufacturing, construction and remittance was disrupted for months. Many people lost their livelihood. Tourism, one of the sources of income for many Nepalese accounting 10 percent of the national income, has decreased prominently during the last year and the current year.
Government compensations are yet to be given to the survivors to rebuild homes and they do not have enough money to rebuild it by themselves. Eleven months after the quake, National Reconstruction Authority was formed which will look after all the reconstruction works and a chief was appointed on December. Post Disaster Recovery Framework (PDRF) and a five-year-plan has been made for the process. According to the PDRF, 500,000 households, 7,000 educational institutions, 446 health posts, 2,900 heritage sites were damaged.
As written in the PDRF, the government has estimated that the reconstruction worth Rs 838 billion will be completed in 5 years time, out of which Rs 645 billion will be spent for individual homes, while Rs 106 billion for production, Rs 61 billion for promotional expense and Rs 26 billion for shared activities. The government of Nepal has planned to provide Rs. 2,00,000 to families who lost their homes and has given Rs. 50,000 as initial fund to 641 households in Dolakha as informed by The Kathmandu Post.
The delay in reconstruction is costing the lives for the people of the country. Small efforts by people and organizations are giving hope to the people of brighter days ahead. In the current rate of change, reconstruction will take decades, so it is high time to start working for the people who are the most vulnerable and in need.
