It wasn’t even 10 am, which is generally the time when government officials start trickling in at work, but Bimala Koirala’s room was bustling with activity. As the administrative head of ward number seven, she was busy attending to residents of her sector who had surrounded her small table in attempts to get her full attention.
Koirala, who has been hit by a wave of anguished pleas, urgent inquiries, and frustrated complaints, says she has become accustomed to it. Almost a month since the first of the two big earthquakes, she describes this as the new norm. So Koirala patiently tries to address each concern, at times even raising her voice to be heard. The word chaos would aptly sum up all that transpires in her office these days.
And such is the case with all ward offices scattered around the capital. The country is clearly still reeling from the recent earthquakes and it seems that each household has only one place to turn to with complains and requests.
“The ward office is the first place people head to with problems. We, here at the ward office, find ourselves acting as a bridge between the public and the country’s higher authorities. This means, we also find ourselves sandwiched between people’s problems and the government’s current inability to meet their needs,” says Koirala.
Even though the ward offices have been assigned the responsibility to help with the relief and recovery work, insufficient supplies and inadequate coordination sees them largely bearing the brunt of the nation’s lack of competence. Threats and mayhem often rule the premises of the ward offices. And currently the inability to get tents seems to be the major reason for conflict.
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Rajan Poudel, resident of Sifal, was at the ward office with his young children in tow. “I wanted these officials to see them. 13 families have been living under a leaky tarp. As per the rules, we submitted a formal request asking for some tents. We have been waiting patiently but so far there have only been empty promises. If we don’t get the tents today, we are going to gather more people and protest,” said Poudel. The ebbing away of patience was evident and throughout the day, there were many other groups that declared to cause a riot if they weren’t handed some tents right away.
Anupama Pokhrael, on the other hand, was facing a different kind of problem. “My neighbor recently got a tent from the ward office itself. But now I hear the rules have changed. Apparently, we have to be living in groups on public grounds. I may be living in my own garden but my house has severe cracks in them and I need tents too. But they say I don’t qualify. I don’t know what to do,” shares Pokhrael.
Madan Guragain, staff at the ward office, confesses that they haven’t got enough tents to provide to all the 300 houses that have been completely destroyed in their area. Especially since 500 other houses that have suffered partial damages too have been around asking for help. Despite informing Kathmandu Municipality Office on a daily basis as well as collaborating with a few organizations he says they haven’t been able to fulfill the quota. However, he assures that the tents provided for their ward have not been mismanaged in any way.
Further, Guragain also cites instances where actions of some members of the public have been very self-centered. “You would think at times like this, people would be honest but we have witnessed quite the opposite. There are cases where members of a single family come to the office at different times in hopes of tricking us into giving them more tents. Considering the scarcity, you would think, the ones who can afford tents and food would not rely on donated materials but sadly this has not been the case,” he says adding that there are many capable of supporting themselves but they prefer to stand in line and take what could have helped the ones in real need.
“They shout that they are “entitled” to these things. Also, during the initial days when we went to check on the tents that we had distributed to some families, we found that they were missing. God knows what they did with them,” says Guragain with a sigh.
Koirala also reports that there have definitely been some who have tried to take advantage of this dire situation. She says such disgraceful mentality on part of some members of the public was not something they had expected. Though taken aback, the ward office is trying to tackle such cases. Distributing tents to groups taking shelter in public spaces was one such initiative. They wanted to make sure that tents were being handed to those who were in desperate need of them.
The ward offices are also overseeing the clearance and investigation of houses that might be at risk following the earthquakes. If the grumbles on the corridor are anything to go by though, the official's supervision has been dismal in that area too.
A resident of Tusal, Bhuwan Lamichane, said that Nepal Engineering Association (NEA) had sent their envoys to check his house but he still hadn’t got the results of the assessment yet. “It has already been two weeks. We want to dismantle the house if necessary but we have not heard back from the engineers yet. We go to the NEA and they say the ward office is looking after it, we come here and they point fingers at NEA,” he says explaining that he has been running around but the officials simply don’t bother to deal with the pressing matter.
Another hold up with the paperwork even had two neighbors involved in a loud outburst smack in the middle of Koirala’s office itself. One argued that the cracked house was a big risk in the locality. The other swore that they had already filed a request to dismantle it and that he didn’t have to nag them every morning. A mediator actually had to step in between the neighbors as the voices and accusations grew louder by the minute.
Koirala states that she is well aware about the flurry of complaints. She also admits that they have not been able to carter to all the residents. But standing on the front lines trying to give welfare to all those who need it, she insists that the ward office is putting in sincere effort on their part. More efficiency by the concerned department heads though would definitely help a lot.
“We ourselves can’t help but feel that we have lagged behind in providing the service our people deserve. We try but at the same time it’s not all in our hands. We have to wait for the assistance and orders to come in,” she says.
The full impact of the aftermath of the earthquake can be felt at the ward offices every single day. It is there that the scale of destruction sinks in. As gray haired elderly men try to understand the protocols of claiming insurance, youngsters fight through the crowd to inquire about their future dwellings, and a number of illiterate men and women look at the forms dazed and confused, you come to realize just how long the road to recovery is going to be.
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