Lack of damage details affects rehabilitation programme in Kavre

KAVREPALANCHOK: As many as 79 people lost their lives, and significant physical assets were destroyed in incidents of floods and landslides last month.

These climatic events also rendered several people homeless. It has been more than a month since local governments engaged in search, rescue, and relief distribution efforts. However, the rehabilitation programme has not progressed due to the lack of detailed loss assessments.

According to the Kavrepalanchok District Administration Office, local governments have not been able to provide comprehensive damage details even 40 days after the rain-induced disasters took their toll.

A meeting of the District Disaster Management Committee decided to provide cash assistance of Rs 15,000 per family, and Rs 20,000 for families with more than five members, in accordance with the Disaster Victims Rescue and Relief (Seventh Amendment) Standards 2077 BS, informed Assistant Chief District Officer Subas Poudel.

Assistant CDO Poudel mentioned that the relief and rehabilitation programme has been affected due to the inability of local governments to provide details of the damage. He added that details have been sought from local governments to meet the criteria for providing Rs 50,000 for the construction of temporary houses.

Data collection is underway for rehabilitation and house construction in Panauti Municipality and Bethanchok and Roshi rural municipalities located in the southern part of the worst-hit district. These are among the 13 local governments in the district. Local residents in these areas are forced to live difficult lives due to the lack of basic physical infrastructure.

Roshi Rural Municipality Chairperson Dinesh Lama stated that the collection of damage details has reached the final stage. 

Preliminary data indicates that 350 houses in the rural municipality have been completely damaged due to floods and landslides.

In Panauti, 700 houses are believed to have been completely damaged. Bethanchok Rural Municipality Chairperson Bhagwan Adhikari said data on families whose houses and land have been washed away by floods and landslides is being collected.

Of the 4,400 affected households in Bethanchok, 550 houses have been damaged. According to preliminary information received so far in the district, approximately 4,000 private houses have been completely damaged and 7,000 houses partially damaged. Three dozen government buildings and a similar number of public buildings have also been completely damaged.

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