SINDHULI, Jan 19: The plummeting temperatures have exposed earthquake survivors living in makeshift shelters to increased risk of weather-related sickness and even death.
Construction of houses for the earthquake victims has been left in the lurch even after nine months of the disaster despite the government's commitment to rebuild the destroyed houses.
“After laying the foundation stone of a house by lawmaker Mohan Prasad Baral, we thought that our house would be built within some weeks. But even after nine months our house remain incomplete,” says a quake victim Shiva Majhi of Sitalparti-1. “We are in desperate need of house to escape from the shivering cold,” he added.
The branch office of Sindhuli Red Cross Society has committed to build the houses of nine hundred and ninety two victim families.
The government had committed to provide an assistance of Rs 200,000 per family for the construction of houses, but that amount is not enough for the construction, according to the victims.
“The government won't provide us more than Rs 200,000 now. The victims have to bear the cost more than that,” says Dipak Raj Nepal, the chief district officer (CDO) of Sindhuli.
Engineers had displayed seventeen types of resilient houses using local materials. But according to the engineers not a single of those houses can be constructed with Rs 200,000. Even the simplest house costs more than Rs 450,000.
About twenty three thousand homes have been collapsed in the district according to the District Administration Office
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