KATHMANDU: Frustrated with lack of proper action on a disaster recovery plan prepared to help rebuild devastated Nepal, British officials have started spending aid money directly. An year has passed but not a single home has been rebuilt with the help of the Nepalese government, despite billions of dollars worth of donations. Nepalis now face a second monsoon in temporary shelters.
Desmond Swayze, international development minister said, “We are increasingly focusing on longer term recovery, supporting rubble clearance and the restoration of vital infrastructure such as health services and police stations. Recovering from a disaster is a huge task and it can take decades for countries to properly mend. The building season in Nepal has now begun.” Financial resources only from the UK has helped restore healthcare for 5.6 million people in affected districts, giving cash direct to 100,000 people, and clearing more than 6,000 cubic metres of rubble. But frustrations with the speed of re-building remain. It took nine months for the Nepalese government to set up a body to take charge of the recovery, the National Reconstruction Authority.
Kenichi Yokoyama, Nepal head of one of the donor organisations, Asia Development Bank, said, “We really need to see actual reconstruction start to happen, and start to happen fast. I think many donor agencies are getting very frustrated.” Another Nepalese official added, “There are many excuses, but they don’t work for the affected people. The co-ordinators’ meeting feels almost like wasting time.”
Charity bosses working locally were blunt. “We need to help the communities affected by the disaster. We have to fast-track this, otherwise people will die,” said Dr Prabin Manandhar, Nepal head of the Christian charity, the Lutheran World Federation.
The NRA says things are now happening. In March, it gave out the first “compensation grants” to help people rebuild their houses to 50 people living in Dolakha district, one of the worst-affected areas. Each recipient was given 50,000 of an eventual 200,000 Nepali rupees (£328 of £1,314). “The people’s discontent is so high, they want faster service … but we have had very difficult circumstances,” said Ram Thapaliya, of the NRA. After the earthquake the government focused on creating a new constitution which sparked protests from some ethnic groups and a blockade until February at the India border, through which supplies were to arrive including fuel and medicine. The government has now admitted that most of the people in temporary shelters will spend another monsoon under tin roofs.
