Nepal quake: Two years on not a single house rebuilt by Kathmandu
In just 24 months, only 50,000 homes reconstructed thanks to the help of charitable associations, 887,353 were destroyed in the earthquake. The Nepali Reconstruction Authority has about four billion dollars available, but bureaucracy and corruption has everything at a standstill. The reality of homelessness.
Kathmandu (AsiaNews) - Two years after the violent magnitude 7.9 earthquake that ravaged Nepal on April 25, 2015, thousands of survivors are still living in tents.
Kathmandu's official sources confirm that they have rebuilt just 50,000 homes in 24 months, and 887,353 were destroyed due to the earthquake. But the most alarming fact is that the rebuilding of the few "fortunate" homes has been possible only thanks to the funding of charitable associations from all over the world. On the contrary, the Nepalese government has a sad primacy: not one home has been rebuilt with state subsidies alone, despite the huge donations that poured in from abroad.
The Nepalese Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has about four billion dollars at its disposal, but so far the government has signed agreements for only 2.6 billion. Reconstruction operations are, however, at a standstill because of slow operations and widespread corruption among officials. This dramatic picture was further aggravated by the recent government's decision to send bulldozers to the outskirts of the capital to level the campsites that sheltered at least 2,000 people to persuade them to return to their villages.
NRA leader Govinda Pokhrel states: "My hands are tied by laws and procedures. I cannot carry out any plans. " Then he adds, "We are really sorry to see this painful situation. The victims of the earthquake are still in tents and under trees. We would like to help them, but bureaucratic procedures prevent us. "
Fr. Boniface Tigga, Jesuit Superior, states that "the victims live in an extreme poverty. We help them by providing support for their needs. We have built more than 50 schools and various homes, but our contribution is not enough. The government seems confused by so many things, it should be more serious. " What’s more, "the rainy season is upon us, and the victims have no shelter."
Fr. Shilas, director of Caritas Nepal, argues that the Church's social arm "is on the front line in offering aid, but we cannot help everyone with our limited resources. We guarantee the support for the basic necessities, but the people need houses."
Ram Bahadur Bhusal, of the Sindhupalchowk district, escaped the earthquake, but now lives in critical conditions. "My wife, my two children and my elderly mother," he says, "have been living in a tent for two years. I asked for government help to rebuild my home, but I was not listened to. This year I am at least trying to erect a wall of mud, otherwise with the rains, the tent will be infiltrated with insects and snakes."
"My children and my mother are in tears with the situation. We cannot sleep, and my wife and I have to take shifts overnight. But all this is exhausting when you do not sleep at night, and in the morning you have to work to earn something. " The government, he adds with resignation, "seems indifferent to our problems. We are hopeless. I think the government will do nothing."
.png)
