KATHMANDU, Nov 6: The recent earthquake in Jajarkot has left hundreds of families homeless, and while the government has pledged support, doubts remain about the rehabilitation process.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Sunday decided to help the families who have lost their homes to the earthquake to build a temporary shelter and provide Rs 200,000 each to the families who have lost their family members.

According to the preliminary estimate of the Ministry of Home Affairs, 937 houses were completely damaged and 2,900 houses were partially damaged by the earthquake. Similarly, 157 people died in Jajarkot and Rukum West due to the earthquake.

The government has said that it will ensure relief and rehabilitation of the earthquake victims. But there are legal hurdles for rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged houses. This has increased the suspicion that those who have been left homeless by the earthquake will not have a tent to live in until the winter. Hundreds of houses were damaged in the earthquakes that affected Bajhang a month ago and Doti last year. The government has not yet been able to proceed with the reconstruction process of those houses.

The government does not invest in the construction of earthquake-resistant houses, and even the houses damaged by the earthquake are often left in the lurch due to legal and procedural complications for timely reconstruction. After the repeal of the law prepared for the reconstruction of houses damaged by the earthquake in 2015, complications have arisen in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of houses destroyed by the recent earthquake.

The work was carried forward through the Earthquake Reconstruction Authority  for the reconstruction of the houses destroyed by the earthquake in 2015 and the rehabilitation of the victims. But since the Authority has been dissolved, there are now problems in reconstruction and rehabilitation both legally and practically, according to the officials of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA).

The National Council for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management held a meeting on Sunday and decided to send Rs 50 million to the disaster management fund to provide Rs 200,000 to the families who lost members of their houses and Rs 50,000 to build temporary shelter in Jajarkot and Rukum West. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

The Council, chaired by the prime minister, has members including ministers, chief secretaries of provincial governments, leaders of opposition parties in parliament, vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission, secretaries of ministries and the executive chief of the NDRRMA.

Dhruba Bahadur Khadka, the spokesperson for the NDRRMA, said that the meeting also decided to deploy a technical team to assess the actual damage to private residences. About 300 people will be mobilized for this. After collecting the details of the physical damage, the necessary process for reconstruction will proceed. “In case of house damage due to an earthquake, funds will not be provided for reconstruction due to the lack of law,” he said. According to him, opinions and suggestions are being collected from relevant ministries such as finance and urban development through the Ministry of Home Affairs.

 
• Jajarkot
 
• rehabilitation
 
• doubts