Phurba silently kept the money in his pocket. He then looked at the secretary and questioned whether the government had really given the money for warm clothes and added that if it was meant so the government should have first solved the problem of shelter and food. "See sir, I'll spend the money in whatever I want. I have other serious problems than the lack of warm clothes," he said. "There is no place to live in, no food to eat, and you talk of new clothes," he said in sarcastic tone and left.
Father of two sons and grandfather of a few, he has many problems to solve. And the relief which came through has pushed him into dilemma as he weighs his problems against each other and tries to pin down the problem which should be addressed first.
"Price of commodities in the market has sky rocketed. This sum of money is not sufficient for buying single pair of clothes for all the members of my large family," he lamented. "We don't have rice or oil in our kitchen to share a few shortcomings,” he said expressing his bewilderment to the situation.
Phurba's family, along with hundreds of others, has been living in a makeshift shelter since the earthquake of 25 April. While the roof and walls do not block cold and dew, there are no thick blankets and quilts to keep them warm during the winter. After much discussion, Phurba's family decided to get essential commodities for the kitchen instead of buying clothes. "We know that winter is growing colder by the day. But more than warm clothes we need food. So, we have decided to rather buy rice and other commodities with the relief amount," he informed.
Like Phurba, who's not spending the relief for warm cloth for the purpose, Krishna Maya Sunuwar, 30 has also other important issues to address with the relief amount. "The secretary had told us to buy new clothes, but we are more in need of some other things," she said. Sunuwar, a mother of five children had consulted with her in - laws before deciding on how to use the money. "We are going to repair the hut in which we are living since the earthquake, that's what we have decided. Life would be much easier if we could keep the cold out of our hut," she said.
Earthquake victims in Duragaun are receiving the relief amount. However, the relief has not been able to relieve them. Even though the money was provided so that they could buy warm clothes, their necessities have forced them to shift their focus to other things. Norbu Tamang, 51, said that their misery could be lesser if the earthquake spared their farms. "The disaster took away even our farms. Landslides did not leave anything for us. We don't have food grains as in lack of land we could not harvest this year," he said.
Duraguan was worst affected VDC in the entire district by landslides triggered by the earthquake. It is the only VDC in the entire district that is still untouched by any road track. According to the VDC secretary Chaulagain, Duragaun's majority population comprises of Sunuwar and Tamangs. "People are very poor here. The crop production before the earthquake would only suffice for around six months in average. The earthquake has pushed them further into poverty," he remarked.
After the earthquake parts of Duragaun have become prone to landslides. Sapra, Sadgaun, Thapadanda, Tama, Churidanda, Kartike, Pundi and Okharni villages have been visibly affected by the landslides. According to Chaulagain, who distributed 772 families of the VDC just last two days, these settlements are at risk.
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Winter relief puts quake victims in dilemma
