Although the government has promised to provide immediate relief to families whose homes were damaged by the earthquake that struck Ramidanda, Jajarkot, on the night of November 17, 2001, to build temporary shelters, the victims of Darma Rural Municipality in Salyan have not yet received the relief money.

Although the municipality submitted all the details to the district and state governments, the victims have not been able to get relief even after two years due to various reasons.

4,081 houses were damaged in all wards of Darma due to the earthquake. As per the government's decision, only 2,388 people in the municipality have received only Rs 25,000 for the first installment. 1,693 people have not received both the first and second installments.

When the government said it would provide Rs 50,000 for immediate relief, all the victims in Darma took out loans and built temporary shelters. After not receiving the relief money, the victim families who took out loans to build shelters have not been able to repay the loans to the moneylenders and cooperatives yet.

'The government said it would give Rs 50,000 to build a temporary shelter, so I took a loan from my moneylender and built a shelter,' said 42-year-old Lalita Khatri of Thanagaun, Darma-2. 'We have not received the relief money yet.' She said that she has had difficulty repaying the loan she took while building the shelter. 'As the temporary shelter with a tin roof is not suitable for living, I am now forced to repair the collapsed house and live with my family,' she said. 'I have lost hope that the government will build a temporary shelter and reconstruct the damaged building.'

Dilli Bahadur Khatri of Darma-3 said that after submitting documents to the relevant agency and building a temporary shelter, she received only the first installment of Rs 25,000. She said that she is supposed to get the second installment within a month or two of receiving the first installment, but she has not received it yet. 'The government first gave Rs 25,000 to build a temporary shelter.' After the construction, they said they would give 25,000 rupees, so they took a loan from the local cooperative to build a hut,' he said, 'It cost more than 50,000 rupees. Since the remaining amount has not been received yet, it is difficult to pay the interest on the loan taken from the cooperative.'

Although the government has decided to give 50,000 rupees to build a temporary hut to heal the wounds of the victims and to rebuild the house, it is limited only on paper, says Mohan Damai, 44, of Dalsingh, Darma-2. 'After the earthquake damaged the house, we could not get a good tarpaulin immediately, what can we expect compensation,' he said.

Darma Rural Municipality Chairman Neem Bahadur KC said that despite repeated requests to the district and state governments for the relief amount to be received for the construction of a temporary hut and for the reconstruction of the house, various excuses have been made. He informed that the earthquake victims within the municipality should have received about 200 million rupees at the rate of 50 thousand rupees to build temporary shelters, but only 60 million rupees have been released so far. He said that the general public who have not received relief and compensation are forced to live in shelters and repair their destroyed houses after two years.