Ram Bahadur Gurung of Laprak-3 recently completed reconstructing his quake-ravaged house. Fifty locals helped him and the process took 15 days to complete. Construction materials had to be transported from the district headquarters and the transportation cost was very expensive. He also used timbers and stones from his damaged house to limit his cost to around Rs 300,000.
"We spent this winter in a makeshift house hoping that the government would provide us with the promised grant," said Gurung. "Even if the government provides us that amount, it is not sufficient to build a house. Merely repairing the old house already cost me a lot more," he added.
Like him, many locals have been joining hands to help each other repair and construct their damaged houses. They said they do not want to spend another monsoon and harsh winter in makeshift tents and would rather repair their old house than wait for the government to help them.
"Now the monsoon would approach soon. We need to build our house and make shelter for ourselves," said Hari Prasad Gurung, a local. Many locals are now starting to speed up their house construction and repairing process.
The catastrophic 7.8-magnitude earthquake has destroyed around 700 houses in the VDC alone. The victims then set up their makeshift shelter in Gupsipakha, which is in higher altitude than their previous settlement and hence, colder. Many victims then started climbing down to lower lands of Gupsipakha after being unable to bear the extreme climatic condition.
"Everyone of us has one makeshift tent set up in Gupsipakha. But we came back here in Laprak because the cold there is unbearable," said Gurung. "Our arable lands are also here so we have to be back at our old settlements. At present, almost everyone is already back at Laprak," he added.
The government has already taken decision to provide government-owned lands to the locals to build their houses. However, it has not come up with proper plans, leading to confusion among the locals.
"We cannot live in Gupsipakha during winter and houses in Laprak are not in good enough condition to sustain the prospective downpour during monsoon, " said Pura Bahadur Gurung of Laprak-2. "The government should have proper plans for us. Or else, troubles keep piling up on us."
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