What's the idea behind the National Volunteers Mobilization Committee?The Great Earthquake and subsequent aftershocks have caused severe damage in more than a dozen districts. This is the biggest devastation of our time. Thousands have died, thousands of others have lost their relatives, homes and properties. This tragedy has caused physical, economic, social and psychological damages. Effective state mechanisms would be able to cope with it. But our state agencies proved to be largely ineffective. In this context, it is the duty of a responsible political organization to reach out to victims and try to heal their wounds. So the party formed National Volunteers Mobilization Committee. CPN-UML has directed all party members, from party chairman to general members, to work together to help those in need. UML is committed to this mission. This is a nationwide campaign to help earthquake victims heal.
What will the committee focus on?
First of all, we will help dispel fear and hopelessness in people. It is important to revive their optimism and self-belief. We need to convince them that all is not lost and that reconstruction and rebuilding is possible. Second, we aim to mobilize at least 10, 000 volunteers from across the country under central command. These volunteers have already started to work. They will work in the affected areas in coordination with local committees. Local cadres will contribute to this mission in every possible way. All party committees have been directed to contribute in this campaign.
What will be the composition of volunteer teams?
Each centralized team is a group of ten members, comprising doctors and psychiatrists with medicines (to treat volunteers and local people), engineers (to design temporary houses and to ensure that they last at least for three years) and other volunteers. Members of the party and its sister wings will be mobilized in these teams. Each team will work in coordination with local cadres, party committees, and CA members of respective constituencies, as well as security agencies, administrative authorities and social service organizations. Everything will be done in consultations with victims based on their needs. The volunteers will work for reconstruction by donating physical labor. Every bit of work will be documented, and progress report will be prepared with signatures of concerned households, local representatives and VDC secretaries. The report will include the photos that document the work undertaken by volunteers. There will be no cheating, no duplication. This campaign will be fair and transparent. Regardless of the political affiliations of victims, our volunteers will be there to help them.
Recent earthquakes have wreaked a lot of damage. How will you prioritize?
Districts with highest number of casualties, injured and property loss will be our first priority. Settlements with majorities of poor and marginalized come next. Then, we will focus on schools. Thousands of schools have been destroyed. If they are not rebuilt on time, hundreds of thousands of students will be deprived of education. We will build temporary structures to house schools. So far we have mobilized centralized volunteer force in 17 districts. About 500 health workers and 500 engineers, overseers and sub-overseers have been mobilized. We have directed other cadres to join this initiative as well. The whole of UML party is committed to this mission. We have put off all other activities. Our focus is reaching out to people.
This sounds like an ambitious project. How will you arrange for needed resources?
We have clearly stated in our directives that we will not take a single penny from the government, nor from affected people. Party committees of districts or zones that mobilize volunteers and sister organizations, especially those coming from unaffected districts, will mobilize funds and resources. Besides, volunteers will also contribute from their purse. This is the time for sacrifice. The party provides basics like rice and beaten rice to volunteers. Otherwise, all funds and contributions are voluntary. As for resources, old tins and woodworks recovered from the debris will be used. We basically contribute voluntary labor. Our focus is building cottage like homes so that people can shift to them. They cannot stay under tents because the monsoon is just few days away. We plan to build temporary settlements that last for at least two to three years.
How do you ensure maximum coverage?
It won't be possible to reach every household. This campaign may not be effective in places where our base is not strong. This is a time even state mechanisms have failed to provide much needed tarps. So I cannot claim our campaign will be a complete success and will help every affected person. But if there are families in distress, they may appeal to our local committees. We will do whatever we can.
Some say UML is doing this for publicity.
I don't agree. We are not doing this for publicity. This is not a time for publicity. It is time for action. We have asked volunteers to engage in result-oriented works. This campaign has been started with a sacred intention. We want tangible outcomes. Hundreds of temporary houses have already been built. You will come to know about our progress soon.
What are the main challenges for your volunteers?
There are several. First, people have not come out of grief yet. There is deep sense of loss. Second, there is shortage of safe houses for volunteers to take shelter. Some places are hard to get to by road and entire village has been wiped out in other places. It is tough to run the campaign in districts like Dolakha and Sinhdupalchowk where earthquake-ravaged hills are vulnerable to landslides. Besides, not all of our volunteers are skilled. So they get injured while working. Some of them have sustained serious injuries on their hands and legs. They live under closed tents but sometimes storm blows them away, spreading panic in the middle of the night. A couple of days ago, some volunteers had to spend the whole night under rain after a storm blew away their tent. They were taken to a nearby school the next day. Since monsoon is approaching our challenges may multiply. We have asked volunteers to cope with all adversities ingeniously. Our volunteers are working against all odds. They will continue to do so at least for a month, rain or shine.
Your one-month timeline seems to be too long. Monsoon has almost started.
We won't give up. This is a tough task we are undertaking. Even so, we have asked our cadres used to mobilizing a large number of people on short notice to work with similar swiftness in relief works. It takes a lot of sacrifice to volunteer labor for a month. But our cadres are committed and they seem to understand the need for such sacrifice. We cannot afford to let this country become another Haiti. There will be tangible outcomes for everything we do. Whatever little we may accomplish, we will do it well. I believe this campaign will be a milestone in volunteering during crisis.
How do we undertake the massive reconstruction works?
How we reconstruct will shape our future. The temporary settlements we are making at the moment are only short-term solution. We did not abide by government building codes. The government had no proper land and housing policies. This is why our settlements were built over risky areas. This earthquake has taught us a lot. As we draft our reconstruction plans, we need to ensure that new settlements are not in landslide prone zones and that each house is earthquake resistant. We need to develop settlement clusters with facilities such as schools, health posts, communication facilities, electricity and so on. The state needs to have concrete plans and policies for this. This is the right time to act. This is the time to build a prosperous Nepal out of the ruins. If we fail to do this now, and just focus on providing temporary shelters to earthquake victims, we will only be waiting for another disaster to happen.
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