Current scenario of Reconstruction
After the proper temporary habitation of people with adequate settlements comes another reconstruction task. It is the fourth year that the 2015 earthquake shook Nepal, and reconstruction is not yet complete.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said the government will complete the post-earthquake reconstruction work next year, that is, at the end of the fifth year since the disaster in April 2015. While the government continues to criticize the interested parties and the public for its slow reconstruction efforts.
The Prime Minister is assuming that the government is accelerating reconstruction at a considerable pace. However, in his tweet published on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the earthquake, the Prime Minister said: “The centuries-old infrastructure collapses in an instant, but it takes years to rebuild.” Prime Minister Sharma Oli claimed that the government is building a “safe nation.”
In a message issued on Wednesday on the occasion of the 21st National Day of Earthquake Safety, he said: “We are in a campaign to build safe houses, school buildings, and settlements, we will build all earthquake-proof structures.” Here are some facts about the reconstruction of the nation after the earthquake.
Commenting on the devastating earthquake of April 2015, Prime Minister Oli said the government has led to the reconstruction of safer settlements for earthquake survivors currently living in public areas. “The government has implemented the integrated work method for subsidized loans in 2018, which will allow earthquake survivors, who cannot begin to rebuild their homes due to lack of funds, to apply for reduced loans of up to Rs 300,000.
Additional subsidies of Rs 50,000 and technical assistance to older people and children affected by the earthquake to rebuild their earthquake-proof homes has begun. “For reconstruction to be sustainable, local government resources and the responsibility for reconstruction were transferred to the archaeological structures damaged by the earthquake, and in the process, ancient originality was taken into account, read the message.
In fact, the arbitrary treatment by the government of the restoration of more than 750 historical monuments in the Kathmandu Valley has sensitized residents about the need to preserve their cultural heritage. In the last four years, the traditional architecture of Kathmandu has been more damaged by the apathy, greed and almost despotism of the government than by the earthquake.
Strong tactics have eliminated areas of monuments in the name of “development”. A new road threatens the historic cities of Khokana and Bungamati at the southern end of the valley, beautiful cities with many archaeological sites.
The collapse of the Dharara tower of the 19th century killed 56 people in an earthquake on April 25, 2015. Many conservationists consider the Mughal style tower a side spine of negligible value. The unjustifiable costs of $ 30 million, while leaving more representative monuments, are in ruins.
Near the neoclassical bag of Darbar is the metropolis of Kathmandu. The mayor of Kathmandu, Bidya Sundar Shakya, is anxious for security reasons to demolish the historic palace complex and replace it with a concrete tower.
In doing so, inspectors are ignored who have confirmed that the earthquake damage is minimal and that the building can be remodeled. The activists have finally received a reprimand from the Supreme Court to stop the demolition.
The same activists have also campaigned for the sensitive restoration of other heritage sites damaged by the earthquake. Six of them were arrested by police in December while protesting against the illegal construction of a cemented footbridge in the sheltered Shleshmantak forest on the site of St. Pashupati, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Department of Archeology is responsible for most of these violations of the Heritage Conservation Standards.
The public and activists had to intervene directly to stop the improper reconstruction of Rani Pokhari under the supervision of the Kathmandu metropolis, while the Department of Archeology quietly observed the complicity.
Using tarps to hide the reconstruction of the public, the city began to build cement retaining walls around the pond of the seventeenth century, which have great religious, cultural and architectural significance. Not only was the use of concrete prohibited under the List of Historic Monuments Act, but the city also planned to convert the site into a business park.
The Kasthamandap monument of the 7th century was destroyed in the earthquake that killed ten people. As the reconstruction has been constantly undermined by the government, the local community has campaigned for voluntary reconstruction with voluntary public participation.
But Mayor Shakya decided to rebuild it using the resources of the city, sabotaging the commitment of the community. While Kathmandu is damaging the reconstruction of monuments, in Lalitpur the pace and quality of reconstruction by a non-profit nature conservation group is far superior.
Bhaktapur is the other model with the largest number of reconstruction projects carried out by local communities with the financial and logistical support of the community. If the “consumers” of the heritage participate in the reconstruction, their attachment to it is even stronger.
This is a good time to think about why things are going so bad in Kathmandu. Since neither parents nor schools informed residents about the importance of preserving cultural heritage, a knowledge gap was created that was closed after the 2015 earthquake.
People Consciousness about Earthquake Safety
Nepal celebrates the 21st edition of the Earthquake Safety Day (ESD) on January 16, 2019, with planned one-week activities. Every year, on 15 or 16 January, Nepal celebrates the Day of Seismic Safety (ESD) (Magh 2 according to Nepalese calendar) commemorating the great earthquake of Nepal and Bihar in 1934 and organizes various activities throughout the country region.
The day’s remembrance was to reaffirm the country’s commitment to improving earthquake resistance in Nepalese communities, as well as to share and review past experiences and develop strategies. Nepal has already achieved a great deal to raise awareness of earthquake safety and preparedness, especially after the devastating earthquake of 2015, but there is still a long way to go to prepare for a possible earthquake disaster.
Before the 2015 earthquake, it was all about why we should prepare for the earthquake. The government and the organizations focused mainly on raising awareness. But after the disaster, the language changed. Now it’s about how the earthquake risk can be minimized.
Reconstruction that is completed
The reconstruction project of heritage sites damaged by the earthquake is only completed in a few cases. The General Management and Protection Committee of Swoyambhu has completed the renovation of 19 monuments in the Swayambhu area of ​​Kathmandu.
A Chaitya, Bayupur, and Basupur in front of the Shanti Pokhari, a pillar in front of the Swayambhu Chaitya and the roof of the Basundhara Temple have been renewed. As stated by the committee, the restoration work was carried out with the help of several donor organizations and also mobilized internal resources.
Monuments such as Anantapur and Pratappur were renovated with the help of the Department of Archeology, while UNESCO supported the repair of the Baitymangaldwar Chaitya.
The committee has so far spent around 50 million rupees on the renovation. Most of the monuments on this UNESCO World Heritage site were damaged by the April 2015 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks. Previously, the committee had received permission from the department to restore damaged structures to their original form.
The renovation works in the ancient Shantipur Temple here started at a price of 40 million rupees two years ago. A total of 14 districts, including three districts in the Kathmandu valley, were rated as worse by the Gorkha earthquake in 2015. According to the ministry, the quake-damaged 753 monuments, including the historic Dharahara (Bhimsen Tower), Ranipokhari and Kashthamandap.
Another renovated cultural heritage is the Manakamana Temple in Gorkha, Gandaki province, which attracts millions of visitors each year. It was rebuilt about 41 months after the 2015 earthquake. The Temple Reconstruction Committee has declared that the reconstruction of the temple has been completed recently.
While the Department of Archeology estimates the cost of the retaining wall, the committee has already decided to bring stones to the Nuwakot farm. Associate officers say that the reconstruction cost 130 million rupees. “We use 18 kilograms of gold, which alone cost 100 million rupiahs.”
The Department of Archeology had provided 40 million rupees for reconstruction. The rest was collected by the visitors. Shrestha ensures that devotees will be able to bid on the temple during the Dashain festival, which will be held next month.
The Nepali government plans to build a museum showing various goods and items related to the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that shook the country on April 25, 2015, and its aftershocks.
The respective authority of National Reconstruction Authority, the government agency that oversees and administers post-earthquake reconstruction, says the museum will have an international standard.
At a meeting of Parliament’s Committee on Sustainable Development and Governance, They said the museum will be located in the Dharahara facility, a multi-story observation tower built by the government along with the similar structure that collapsed during the earthquake in Dharahara from Kathmandu.
Also, the agency would build earthquake commemorative parks in the districts of Gorkha and Sindhupalchok, two of which, according to him, are the most affected by the earthquake and aftershocks.
Japan has granted a subsidy of Rs.18bn for the repair of BP Highway, the road that connects Kathmandu with East Terai. The Japanese government had previously financed the construction of a 160-kilometer highway. The road was damaged during the 2015 earthquake.
At today’s signing ceremony, Ambassador Masamichi said that it was one of the largest donations that Japan had granted to Nepal. He said that 20 important claims had already been discovered along the way and that the repair would begin as soon as possible.
The National Reconstruction Authority founded eight months after the devastating 2015 earthquake, says that 77 percent of the houses destroyed by the earthquake were rebuilt.
The Authority said in its press conference on the third anniversary of its founding that of the 742,135 families that had signed an agreement to receive reconstruction grants from the Authority, 337,319 had completed the construction of their new home. Similarly, 233,343 households are building a house. “If we add the numbers, we see that about 77 percent of the homes that lost their homes due to the earthquake have now been rebuilt.” The agency said that around 884,800 homes were lost in the 2015 earthquake.
For the reconstruction of Kasthamandap, a historic traveler ruined by the 2015 earthquake, timber corporation of Nepal Ltd agreed to provide 17,000 cubic feet of timber. Rajesh Shakya, Chairman of the Reconstruction Committee of Kasthamandap, and Raju Laudari, Managing Director of the Company, signed a letter of intent that is expected to accelerate the reconstruction work.
The reconstruction of Kasthamandap (wooden pavilion) requires specially prepared woods. Generally, 10-foot wood is available in the market, but the monument requires 38-foot wood. The committee works with the objective of completing the reconstruction of the heritage of historical and cultural importance in the next two years. It is believed that the monument was built in the 12th century by Laxmi Narsingh Malla.
Reason: Why so late?
Forty-two months after the devastating earthquake of April 25, 2015, people whose homes collapsed during the earthquake still live in makeshift shacks awaiting government assistance. There are several reasons why the National Reconstruction Authority, the government agency that leads the reconstruction, has failed to demonstrate its impact.
The first reason is not to recognize the extent of damage in areas. The NRA divided the affected areas into two zones: severely affected and less affected. What they did not realize, however, was that areas such as Lamjung, which were close to the epicenter, were severely affected.
The work in Lamjung began 18 months after work in the severely affected areas. After the surveys in 2017, however, it turned out that the damage level was very high here.
Here are some other reasons that have affected reconstruction throughout the country.
Support: Very little, too late.
The earthquake occurred in April 2015, but Regmi states that the NRB did not send engineers until January 2018. “When they arrived, most of them had already built their homes at the first level we gave them.”
“The engineers came two years later than those from the NRB, people started building houses and we had to take care of the engineers, it’s the true story of a rural town in the Kaski district of Nepal, this created a new problem, since the second and third part of the subsidies were granted only to people who had built houses according to their guidelines, those who had money made earthquake-proof houses, but those who did not do it in a normal way because nobody wanted to live in the improvised huts during the monsoon.
There are no trained masons.
Despite the availability of technical support, finding qualified masons was a big problem. This is a recurring problem in the villages, as many young people have moved to large cities or the Gulf. People had to bring masons from the far west because they were the only ones who could pay.
In the least affected areas, there are many houses that could be reinforced by modernization, but due to the lack of trained masons, people do not want to think about it and spend money on the construction of new ones,” he says. Government and non-governmental organizations have trained villagers in masonry over the past decade, but this training has not been used in villages.
“The organizations gave them daily assignments during the training, most of them only participated.” Many participated in the CTEVT training, but only to receive certificates that would help them find jobs in the Gulf states.
Lack of technical assistance
The lack of bricklayers was not the only problem. The number of NRA engineers was insufficient to meet the demand. For example, we read a newspaper article about the reconstruction of the village of Lamjung. The total number of engineers deployed by the NRB in the Lamjung district is 42, including engineers, sub-engineers and engineering assistants who must supervise the 10,000 houses that are becoming the district.
If you bring Rainas with you, we only have six engineers who need to monitor 3,000 houses. There are 500 houses per engineer, and they are not all together, which makes it quite difficult for them. They believe that there is more technical assistance in the neighboring districts than in Lamjung. They have to run for hours. The government does not provide us with a vehicle, which makes it even more difficult since motorcycles can not drive everywhere.
False beneficiaries
There are many people who already have houses in the big cities, but have received government subsidies. “There are many cases in which people who have homes in Kathmandu or Pokhara have used the scholarship, although the government has not used enough staff to fill these gaps.
He could only establish pillars for his new home and has been living with a neighbor for three years due to poor financial conditions.
“If the government pursues fraud, which only takes money away and builds small houses and does not even live there, it could be used to give something to people like the ones who really need it.”
Not learning from mistakes.
The NRA, which began its activity in the most affected areas, did not learn from its mistakes. The problems they faced in less affected areas are similar to those they face in severely affected areas, but nothing has been done to ensure that operations in the least affected areas are easy.
False promises of the executives.
However, this agenda comes from the main politicians who make all the declarations in the public address to satisfy them. For example, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has stated that the government will grant subsidies to all concerned. This statement comes up again and again.
They tell people that the prime minister of the country has asked him to grant them subsidies, but they do not realize that they have no power as engineers because we have to follow a very different system. More than four years have passed and the reconstruction is still ongoing.
With the festive season in full swing, there are thousands who still live in shelters. For many families, new clothes are not in the program because winter is coming and they only have a roof over their heads so their children do not have to tremble with cold.
Current situation of the cradle of the 2015 Nepal earthquake.
Together with Barpak, the epicenter of the 2015 earthquake, an integrated model settlement is being built for the inhabitants of the village of Laprak in the Gorkha district. The Non-Resident Nepalese Organization has taken initiatives to start the project and is investing around Rs.1 billion in the project. The settlement will house some 600 families in the nearby safe village of Gupsipakha.
The construction of around 300 houses has already begun. The construction will be completed from April to May next year when the houses are delivered to the premises, reports the president of NRNA, Shesh Ghale. In addition to the labor contribution of the natives and the voluntary support of the Nepalese army personnel, they have invested 1.2 million rupees in the construction of a single house.
For Recent earthquake in Nepal, you can visit the official website of Nepal government. NATIONAL SEISOMOLOGY CENTER
Author: Sudip Babu Dhakal
