Safeguard rights of quake victims: NHRC

Kathmandu, November 4

The National Human Rights Commission today expressed serious concern about the human rights situation of people affected by April 25 earthquake and its aftershocks.

It has urged the government to form the National Reconstruction Authority at the earliest to expedite reconstruction of structures damaged or destroyed by the quakes.

The constitutional rights watchdog lamented that many earthquake survivors in the worst-hit districts were still deprived of food, clothes and medicines.

“We found during its monitoring that the situation coupled with fuel crisis, high inflation, cold weather, black marketing and scarcity of essential goods have made life difficult for earthquake survivors,” said a press statement issued by NHRC.

“Various agencies working for the quake victims have halted their relief efforts citing the fuel crisis. This has made matters worse for the earthquake victims,” it noted. The NHRC has urged the government to make necessary arrangements to safeguard the basic human rights of the quake victims.

It has observed that many of the quake victims have not yet received identity cards and are compelled to live in temporary shelters. It said many of the victims have not even received immediate cash relief of Rs 15,000 that the government had promised them soon after the earthquake. Senior citizens, new mothers, pregnant women and children have been worst hit by the current situation, it added.