The cold is beginning to bite. On the wee hours of Wednesday, Kathmandu saw its temperature dip to 0.9 degree Celsius, making it easily the coldest day this winter. When people go out these days they make sure they put on at least three to four layers of clothes—and it's still not enough sometimes. But it is not the folks of Kathmandu the cold affects the most. Not this time. Around 600,000 people in various parts of the country are still putting up in temporary shelters following recent earthquakes. Their tarpaulin or tin tents offer little protection against the cold. Already, cases of deaths of children and elderly have been reported from districts like Gorkha and Sindhupalchowk that were hit the hardest by the earthquakes. It's not just cold and cold-related diseases like pneumonia that is killing them. Since the earthquake-affected people are crammed together in small tents, if one of them catches an infectious disease, the entire tent population might soon catch it. The Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital in Kathmandu for the same reason has been diagnosing an unusually high number of swine flu cases this winter, mostly among the earthquake-affected.This is why the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) says that preventing deaths from cold-related and other infectious diseases this winter will be a major challenge. Sadly, for those living in tatty temporary shelters, the temperatures will continue to go down in the next 15-20 days, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division. This why it is so depressing to see the much-needed Reconstruction Authority to rebuild vital infrastructure, including people's lost homes, become a political football. This life-and-death issue for hundreds of thousands of earthquake victims has been taken lightly by major parties, as they scramble for spoils from lucrative reconstruction contracts. After much wrangling, the relevant reconstruction bill was finally passed by the parliament on December 16th. But it will take at least a few more months for earthquake victims to feel its presence. The government would do well not to waste any more time in appointing the authority's office-bearers, including its chief. Far too much time has already been wasted.
But not just earthquake victims are at risk. In the last three years 45 people have been killed during the winter season in the Tarai belt. Dirt-poor, they don't have warm clothes; nor do they have the firewood to keep themselves warm. This is why every winter the government arranges for bonfires at major chowks in the Tarai. Similar arrangements, we hope, will be made this year as well. This winter will be especially hard for Tarai residents. As many as a million jobs have been lost throughout the belt from the ongoing Indian economic embargo, according to the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Most of these jobless belong to the lowest income strata. They will have a hard time fending off the biting cold in what is turning out to be one of the harshest winters in recent memory. We as a country need to be better prepared for winter months, with or without the blockade.
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