Pardafas Reporter
Residents of Gorkha and Nuwakot district which was one of the mostly affected areas by the 2015 earthquake have expressed their happiness to live inside fairly comfortable and strong 50,000 houses after six years. Thanks to the support of Government of India and UNDP which made the successful completion of the mega-project.
A great loss of life and property was caused in Nepal after the 8.01 magnitude of earthquake struck the country. The Barpak area of Gorkha district in the northern part of the country, which was also the epicenter of the earthquake suffered the most loss with majority of 1,300 houses in the area were completely destroyed killing 72 people in the village alone.
The housing project has also provided land and homes to the landless people who did not had their own houses before the earthquake. The locals have admired the supporting organisations and nations that built the such large number of residents.
Ward Chair of Gorkha Municipality Ward No. 13 Hari Bahadur Khanal said that most of the construction works have been completed and some school and cultural heritage are on track of completion soon. He complained that the money provided by the government of Nepal for the reconstruction of houses was not enough at all. Nepal government have provided Rs 300,000 for the people in various installment who wanted to rebuild their houses. “Constructing houses in mountainous region with the limited money was not enough for us. But, those are lucky whose houses were built by the foreign countries or donor agencies,” Khanal said.
He also said that a lot of construction work had been done lately. “Most of the schools have been built. Religious structures, monasteries and temples are ongoing reconstruction and many health posts and schools have been built.”
Reconstruction of physical infrastructures took a pace after the local elections. Local leaders and representatives speeded up work and life came to normal soon. The payment process also became a bit faster. In the last one year, many houses have been built in a normal way the practice is followed by many.
Locals say that after the reconstruction of houses, employment has been created and their economic condition has improved due to the opportunity work in the construction sectors.
Locals also say that after UNDP employed its high skills engineers to build earthquake-resistant houses from village to village it also gave skill-oriented trainings to traditional workers which paved a path of new job opportunities. It added to the economic development of people and their family where the houses were build by the help of Indian government and the UNDP. Women and men also got equal working opportunies and rights after receiving the training from the UNDP.
Dambar Bahadur Sunar, a mediator selected by the UNDP also called as ‘Housing Construction Friend’ expressed gratitude to the Indian government for not helping him built a house but also to provide counsel to the earthquake victims and those traumatized by the earthquake. He said, "After doing DPR as per the rule of Nepal Government, it was not possible to build a house at the provided money. But, the support from the Indian government by providing various support materials helped me complete the house. You helped me build a house anyway. Many thanks to the Government of India for this,” Sunar said.
Khampa Namgyal, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Nepal, said that the Government of India was assisting in the construction of earthquake-damaged houses and would continue to assist in the field of development. Expressing happiness over the reconstruction of 50,000 houses, she said that the Government of India would continue to provide assistance in the fields of health, education and culture in Nepal.
She said, “The Government of India is assisting the Government of Nepal in rebuilding the houses destroyed by the earthquake. More than 50,000 houses have been rebuilt in Gorkha and Nuwakot with the support of UNDP and the Government of India. Many of us are happy to be able to rebuild the houses that were destroyed in the devastating earthquake of 2015. We have completely rebuilt the housing sector. The Government of India is providing significant assistance to Nepal in the areas of health, education and culture. We have done about 200 projects in these three areas. India is a friend of development for Nepal.”
Similarly, Bernardo Coco, Nepal's Deputy Representative to the United Nations Development Program said that the reconstruction work in Gorkha and Nuwakot, which were destroyed by the 2015 earthquake, has been completed. He said that the UNDP had provided social and technical assistance in this regard, adding that the assistance of the Government of India was significant.
Deputy Representative Bernardo Coco also also pledged to assist Nepal in other areas of development.
