"I have no money to hire people to rebuild my home," said Nirmala. "Hence, I'm learning skills to build my house myself. I'll purchase construction materials through the money I earn through daily wages," she added. At present, she is learning how to install doors and windows of house.
Not just Nirmala, four other women from Khoplang VDC have also been acquiring house building skills. They have been taking mason training from Small Industries Development Board. All of them are hopeful that the government would provide them with reconstruction grants, which they would use to purchase and transport construction materials.
One of the participants, Sabita Shrestha, said they are confident that they would now be able to build their own houses. "We are learning to build quake-resistant house for ourselves. And we are confident that we can build better and stronger house than we had before the earthquake," she added.
The under-construction houses in the VDC are carefully planned from the beginning. They start building house by digging 4 meters deep foundation and examine the soil along with other measures. Twenty people of Khoplang-9, including four women, have already built quake-resistant community houses upon receiving the training.
Likewise, the mason training has also expanded in Aarughat of Aaruchanaute VDC where seven women have already turned up for the training. All of them said they would build their own houses upon completing the training.
"The government is preparing to provide mason, carpenter and house wiring trainings to 200 locals of the district through us," informed Gokarna Raj Joshi, chief of Small Industries Development Board. So far, 160 people have participated in such trainings.
The catastrophic 7.8 magnitude earthquake of April 25 and its subsequent aftershocks destroyed more than 60,000 houses in the district alone, the quake's epicenter. Many quake survivors are still living under tents and tarpaulins as they are waiting for the government grants to construct their houses.
Although they are expecting grants from the government to build proper houses, the delay in the government-promised grants has prevented them from enjoying proper shelter even ten months after the quake.
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