Lalitpur, April 23

Earthquake victims of Mahakal Rural Municipality in Lalitpur have started making bricks themselves to reconstruct their houses destroyed by the devastating earthquake three years ago.

With the financial support of Oxfam and managerial support from Development Project Service Nepal, the victims have started producing bricks in their own villages. Build up Nepal provided the technical support to operate the machines used for making bricks. Build up Nepal trained as many as 10 villagers to operate the machine.

They have already produced 400 bricks so far with the help of local Progressive Multi-purpose Cooperative. “We pay Rs 20 per brick to workers as their wage,” said cooperative secretary Bhim Prasad Dulal. He said that total cost for a brick was Rs 40 including the wages of the worker and material cost. “The cooperative charges Rs 46 per brick to its members while others have to pay Rs 48 for each brick,” he informed.

Dulal said that technicians at District Technical Office, Lalitpur, had also approved the bricks and said that the bricks could be used for reconstruction.

As many as 92 houses were destroyed completely by the devastating earthquake at Gumrang alone. Of them, only three to four houses have been constructed till date.