KATHMANDU: The government has revised losses suffered by the housing sector during the devastating earthquake of April 25 and subsequent aftershocks to $3 billion (approximately Rs 307 billion).

Earlier, the government had said earthquake and aftershocks destroyed or damaged houses worth around $3.8 billion.

“But after conducting revisions, we found that the losses suffered by the housing sector were $800 million less than the previous estimate,” a reliable government source told The Himalayan Times, without elaborating.

The April 25 earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale and numerous other aftershocks,

including the one of May 12 measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, have fully damaged 505,577 private houses and partially damaged another 278,907 houses, show the government data.

Of the houses that were totally damaged, 14.50 per cent — or 73,317 units — are located inside Kathmandu Valley. Similarly, of the houses that were partially damaged, 24.33 per cent — or 67,871 — are located in the Valley.

The government is assessing the damage caused by the earthquake to various sectors through internationally standardised process called Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA).

PDNA will determine the impact of the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks and define a recovery strategy. It will also include funding needs for restoration of livelihoods, and chart out plans to revive the economy and rehabilitate and reconstruct damaged houses and other infrastructure. It will also assess the socio-economic impact of the earthquake and identify priority areas for affected households

and critical sectors of the economy.

The PDNA is being conducted by a team led by the National Planning Commission (NPC) in coordination with the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank, among others. It comprises 23 thematic groups, such as housing and settlements, tourism, agriculture, finance, health and population, nutrition, education, cultural heritage and social protection.

Each of these groups has already submitted draft report. After compiling data provided by all the groups, the PDNA team will come up with draft PDNA report on June 10. A national consultation will then be held on June 13, before the report is finalised on June 15.

The government will present the PDNA report at the International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction — a donors’ conference being held with a theme ‘Towards Resilience’ — on June 25.

The government is expected to seek financial support from the international community to rebuild the country during the international donors’ conference.

Since the earthquake that killed over 8,600 people, the government has announced its decision to set up a reconstruction fund of Rs 200 billion, in which the state would contribute Rs 20 billion.