The earthquake killed 157 people and injured hundreds of civilians in Jajarkot, Rukum West, and Salyan. Even two years after the earthquake, the victims here are still forced to live in tents awaiting reconstruction.
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It has been two years since the 6.4 Richter scale earthquake that struck Jajarkot's Ramidanda district on Kartik 17, 2080, causing massive loss of life and property in Jajarkot, Rukum West, and Salyan. The pace of work to alleviate the suffering of the affected people has not been as fast as it should have been.
The earthquake killed 157 people in Jajarkot, Rukum West and Salyan, while hundreds of civilians were injured. Even two years after the earthquake, the victims here are still forced to live in tents waiting for reconstruction.
Mahendra Satyal, an earthquake victim from Athabishkot Municipality-6, asked, “How long will we live in tents like this?” “Even two years after the earthquake, we are still living in tents,” he said, “The government showed hope but did not understand our plight. How long will we have to rely on the government that asks us to fill out blank forms, says we will do this and that but does not do anything?”
According to the data of the District Administration Office, Rukum West, a total of 34,997 affected households in Rukum West were identified as beneficiaries. So far, 31,931 beneficiaries have received Rs 50,000 per household in two installments at the rate of Rs 25,000/25,000 for the construction of temporary housing, while the remaining 1,065 beneficiaries have received the first installment but are not eligible for the second installment.
After this, a detailed damage assessment (DDA) should be conducted, the damage should be evaluated, and the remaining work should be classified as reinforcement, reconstruction or rehabilitation, and then an agreement should be reached and the remaining work should be taken forward. However, this work has not gained the expected momentum, said Birkha Bahadur Bista, Chairman of Sanibheri Rural Municipality.
‘The victims ask us when the house will be built. We do not have an answer to that. First, it took time to come up with the procedure, then the DDA work was delayed. After that, the remaining work is also being delayed,’ said Chairman Bista.
A total of 30,850 beneficiaries in Rukum West have been DDAed. The number of beneficiaries approved by the District Disaster Management Committee is 4,607 so far, informed Chief District Officer Dinesh Prasad Thani.
‘We are working to approve and approve the beneficiaries who have completed DDA as much as possible through the District Disaster Management Committee meeting,’ says Chief District Officer Thani, ‘but the work of entering them into the information system from the local level is being delayed.’
Of those who have DDA, only 4 have been contracted for reconstruction so far. However, this is a negligible number based on the number of those who have DDA.
Even though the beneficiaries who have been included in DDA for reconstruction are the last, 2,01 beneficiaries who were submitted by the local level after the scheduled time have not been able to receive the first installment. In addition, the details of the beneficiaries who were exempted from DDA due to various reasons have been requested from the concerned local level and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority for DDA has been requested, the District Administration Office has said.
Initially, saying that they had done their best in rescue, relief and construction of some temporary housing, Athabishkot Municipality Mayor Ravi KC requested that the reconstruction work be carried out as soon as possible since all the work is the responsibility of the federal government. ‘We are doing our best on behalf of the local government. But the federal government had to work with priority to solve the problem,’ he said.
How long will the victims, who have been living in tents for two years, suffer like this? Why is the remaining reconstruction work being delayed and what should be done to speed it up? The victim said that it is necessary for everyone concerned to pay attention to this.
