In Nepal, people return to flood-damaged homes — Kathmandu Post
In Nepal, residents of the Nuwakot and Rasuwa districts affected by the Bhotekoshi flood on August 26 are returning to homes covered in silt and debris. People cannot afford to pay rent for long periods, while government assistance promised to many families has not yet arrived, and safety inspections of buildings remain incomplete, Kathmandu Post reports.
Devighat resident Ram Kumar Bhandari returned to his own house in Bidur-5 Municipality with his family of seven. After the flood, the family rented accommodation in Pipaltar for about a month but could not afford to rent an entire house. According to Bhandari, caring for his mother, who has a mental disorder, was also difficult in someone else’s home. He said that around 15 families from his area had also moved back into damaged homes: some live on upper floors, while others are clearing the silt themselves.
Assistance has not arrived
The Nepalese government decided to provide displaced families with monthly living assistance for six months or until alternative housing becomes available. Households of up to four people are to receive 15,000 Nepalese rupees per month, with an additional 2,000 rupees for each additional family member.
Rabindra Nepal, chair of Bidur-7 Ward and spokesperson for the municipality, said that no displaced family in the municipality had yet received the payments because the funds had not been transferred. Ram Bahadur KS, a representative of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, said that local authorities are identifying, registering and verifying aid recipients.
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According to the authority, the government allocated 370 million rupees for assistance, of which 184.86 million rupees were distributed among 4,108 households identified by local authorities. Each received a first installment of 45,000 rupees. At the same time, the authority’s report does not specify how many families have already received monthly rent compensation.
Uncertain resettlement
Authorities say they will not allow settlements to be rebuilt in areas at high risk of flooding. At the same time, the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction has preliminarily surveyed 2,027 households, but the report does not include data on the number of houses that have undergone structural safety assessments.
As of October 16, 943 displaced people were staying at 13 temporary accommodation sites. In Rasuwa, residents of Timure inspected plots for collective resettlement, including in the settlement of Haku, where most families have ancestral land. According to KS, more than 3,000 land plots have been identified for temporary and transitional housing in Nuwakot and Rasuwa, but their suitability still needs to be assessed and legal procedures have not been completed.
