"Depending on the government for addressing our woes is of no use, we have already seen the government's apathy towards us. Trying to build house on our own is not going to work either, all the land has been washed away by landslide," said Ashabir Tamang, a landslide victim of Haku - 8. "There's no ray of hope left for help coming from the government."
Tamang said that the victims were initially happy to survive the earthquake. They had thought that they would be able to restart their life with the support of the government. "However, we see that the government is not at all interested in carrying out reconstruction works. It does not have any effective programs for resettling us," he said.
After the earthquake rendered them homeless, Tamang's family has been managing in rented land at Betrawati area along the Trishuli riverbank. Like Tamang, around 370 families hit by the quake pay for the land in Betrawati, where they have erected temporary shelters. "Everyone is in dilemma. It's getting colder day by day and we don't know where we should be going this winter to survive it,” he said adding “We don't have even basic facilities to carry on," said Tamang.
The victims pay Rs 3,000 for a ropani of land per month. And the amount is very high for the people like them who have no regular source of income, they said. "It is not the problem of a single person. It's everyone's woe here," said Karma Lama pointing to the temporary shelters around which house all the 370 displaced families of Haku village. "If we go back to village, the landslides have left nothing for us. If we continue staying here, it is impossible to continue such hefty amount every month," he said.
The victims, whose sole source of income is manual labor, stated that they had heard of donors meet and quite a lot of money being promised for them. Lama said that the quake hit families were expecting permanent solution to their problem. However, he was least aware that the government has not yet been able to form the 'National Reconstruction Authority' which was supposed to take care of the rebuilding process. "It's been over seven months since we have been living like this but so far the government has not showed its presence," Lama said.
According to Chiranjivi Thapa, CDO of Rasuwa, lack of clear policy on the rebuilding process has been major hurdle in providing aid to the earthquake victims. "There is no clear policy or program for the victims. Without that, reconstruction works cannot be accelerated," he said.
He said that 11,550 households were affected by the earthquake adding that the government has allocated Rs 10,000 per family as 'winter relief'. This relief, he said, will be distributed to the families within a week.
Thapa said that several national and international organizations have expressed interest for aiding in the reconstruction work and many have even met him in person and offered support. "However, until government readies clear plan and policy, we cannot do anything about it," he said.
These homeless people's suffering has been even aggravated due to the Indian economic blockade. Some of the construction works being carried out by national and international organizations in Rasuwa have been halted due to the lack of fuel and materials. This has further deprived the earthquake victims of daily work and wages.
The blockade has forced the district into humanitarian crisis. Northern parts of the district are already reeling under food crisis due to the lack of transportation service. According to the Local Development Officer of Rasuwa, Bishnu Koirala, shortage of fuel has affected supply of food and drugs in the region. "Even though organizations are ready to donate, we have no means to carry goods," he said.
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