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As soon as the first shockwaves rocked the nation, and I managed to survive, I was worried about family in Sindhupalchowk—the district that tops casualty charts. I had been able to contact them only once, before the communication systems broke down. And I had been told, "We are all safe, but we have lost everything. You take care."I spent three sleepless nights thinking about them. Rainfall had become regular. Then the message came, "We are under open skies; young ones have started to catch cold. Come home with some tarpaulin." Tarpaulin was the most needed thing at that time but it was rare to find in the market. The home minister had announced that thousands of plastic tents had been distributed. But it was hard to find a single person who had received it from the ministry. It was no use waiting for government assistance. So I turned to a colleague in the newsroom. He referred to former FNCCI President Suraj Baidya. Thanks to him, I got some tarpaulin and I left for my home town of Bahrabise Thursday morning.
Bahrabise is one of Sindhupalchowk towns ravaged by recent earthquake. Once home, I was devastated to see the devastation. The old mud house had collapsed. My parents were taking shelter under a shed whose roof leaked. So when I reached home with tarpaulin it was great relief for the panic-stricken family. But greater ordeals await all Sindhupalchowk denizens.
Bahrabise is lucky that it has had no human casualties. But post-earthquake, the situation is going to be critical for poor villagers. I met a dalit farmer, Resham Bahadur Nepali. A landless, he had managed to build a hut jungle-side. The earthquake pulled it down and killed a pair of oxen—his only means of earning livelihood. He is not happy about being alive. "What will I do with this life if I don't get to eat and feed my family?" Nepali asked. "This shed that I am building won't last through rainy season. What will I do then?" he lamented. Earthquake victims—especially the poor—across the country need food and shelter, right now.
Social and family set-ups in Nepal's villages are such that once you lose your house, you lose everything. A house is where you raise domestic animals and store food grains in the attic. With the houses crumbling from the top, food grains have become unusable. Some have managed to recover cloth items like bed sheets and quilts, and some pots. But as Nepali said, 'What will they do when they have nothing left to cook?"
The ravaged villages will need uninterrupted supply of food at least until life returns to normal. But you cannot rely on government for this. It wants all relief aid to be mobilized through Prime Minister's Relief Fund—which means series of procedural hassles, which in turn means it will be months before relief materials reach the victims, which also means relief aids will accumulate in PM's fund while earthquake victims will be left in the lurch. This was the case with Jure and Darchula flood victims. There is no guarantee it won't be repeated.
Grapevine from Singha Durbar is that government ministers are fighting over the spoils. They want to share money among themselves and distribute it to the victims on the basis of political affiliation.
Something of this kind was witnessed while I was in Bahrabise. Locals were complaining that plastic tents and rice that came through Ministry of Rural Development were being distributed only to Nepali Congress cadres. Amrita Nepal, a local Maoist cadre, was fuming: "So they are here to play politics on disaster victims, what a shame!" On Friday afternoon, irate locals pelted stones at police for failing to bring timely relief.
It will take months for the government to bring appropriate reconstruction plan and execute it. Government fund is likely to take months to reach genuine victims. Until then, the victims will have to rely on whatever little that is offered by I/NGOs, business sectors and few good Samaritans.
Disaster is the time that tests our resilience. So far, people have passed the test. In villages, helplessness has become a common thread that unites all. But this unity won't last when food crisis deepens. When patience runs out people will resort to loot and plunder. And it will be easier this time since entire village has turned into a tent-scape. So what should be done?
Indeed, these are testing times for the government to prove it is for the people, for the private sector to prove profit is not everything and the rich to prove what hurts the poor hurts them too.
The government is failing its test. Anger in the street is such that Juddha Shamsher—the Rana Prime Minister during devastating earthquake of 1934—is perceived to be better than Sushil Koirala. Juddha Shamsher is being praised, perhaps for right reasons. Otherwise a cruel potentate, he did something substantial to ease the sufferings of quake victims 82 years ago. He directed all to work for relief, decreed that anyone indulging in black marketing and theft during national crisis will be dealt with death. He announced reconstruction loan, and surprised all by waiving it later. No such thing is being expected of Koirala government.
Private organizations such as PABSON and HISSAN and NGOs have undertaken their own relief operations. But they need to do more.
One, these organizations need to reach out to every victim, assess the situation and distribute relief material accordingly. Not every quake victim has the same need. While some are desperate for food; others may need bedding and funds for reconstruction.
Two, earthquake has displaced children. A number of schools—both private and public—are now in ruins. If the private school organizations like HISSAN and PABSON and I/NGOs working in education take up the responsibility of educating quake victim children for free, at least for one year, it will help absolve them of the allegation that they are profit-hungry.
It is the poor who are most affected by natural disasters. The devastation of the recent earthquake has changed the rural landscape. Villages have turned into plastic tents. This is the time for the rich to prove they are with the poor and the needy. If this disaster does not make us more humane, more concerned and considerate toward the poor, nothing will. If it doesn't change our social and moral values, perhaps nothing will.
mahabirpaudyal@gmail.com
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