EDITORIAL: Usefulness outlived?

Three years after the devastating quake, questions are now being asked whether the NRA has become a white elephant and outlived its utility

Just before the clock struck noon three years ago on April 25, a devastating quake struck Nepal, leaving us shaken. The last quake of such a huge magnitude had rocked the country in 1934. As reports of deaths and devastation poured in, the country learned that nearly 9,000 people had lost their lives to the disaster. Half a million houses, heritage structures and other infrastructure were damaged or destroyed. Thirty-one districts were greatly affected. As the country struggled to come to terms with the loss of lives and destruction, the then government called in the world for support. International donors pledged $4.1 billion under the theme “build back better”. The

government then set up the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) to oversee the rebuilding works. Three years on, thousands of quake survivors are still struggling to build their houses; many have been enduring monsoon rains, winter cold and summer heat in their flimsy temporary shelters. Many do not know even today whether they will be able to build their houses.

It will be unfair to say there has been no progress at all in the last years. Nonetheless, it’s a fact that it has been snail-paced. As we commemorate the third anniversary of the devastating earthquake, it is once again time to review how we performed to relocate and rehabilitate quake survivors, how the government-announced housing aid has been distributed, whether the NRA has stood true to the theme of “build back batter”; whether the quake survivors have felt the presence of the state in a true sense and whether the authorities concerned have been able to get the pledged money and channelise it in the right direction. According to NRA data, 767,705 families were identified as eligible for the Rs 300,000 housing grant to be distributed in three tranches. So far, agreements for the housing aid have been signed with 708,722 households, but construction of only 119,182 houses (16 per cent) has been completed. This paints a dismal picture of reconstruction efforts.

The problem started with the NRA itself, or for the country’s polity for that matter, as it became the hotbed of power play for our political parties. The NRA has seen four CEOs since its inception. This frequent change of guard certainly hampered the reconstruction process. Then there were misplaced priorities. For example, many families demolished their partially damaged houses even though they could have been retrofitted to make them quake-proof. There were also discrepancies while selecting households for relocating them to “safer areas”. Above all, donors, it seems, gradually lost confidence in the NRA when it came to funding. As we complete three years of one of the biggest natural disasters in the country, time has come to give a serious thought about the NRA as well. Questions are now being asked whether the NRA has become a white elephant and outlived its utility. Since we have stable governments at all levels, there is a need to start informed discussions whether the reconstruction responsibility can be transferred to provincial and local governments. There seems to be complete disconnect between the NRA and the quake survivors. It can also be argued that if three years were not enough for the NRA, reconstruction would not be completed in another many years.

Books in sacks 

Libraries and museums are the repositories of human knowledge collected and preserved from the time immemorial. They also reflect the collective wisdom of mankind and a given society that have made endless efforts to pursue and preserve knowledge in myriad fields. However, the Hariharbhavan-based Nepal National Library (NNL) and the Keshar Mahal-based Keshar Library are in a sorry state after the devastating 2015 earthquake that damaged the old buildings.

The NNL, which has a collection of more than 150,000 books, has remained shut for the last three years while the Keshar Library, which has over 65,000 books, has also been cramped inside the Keshar Mahal where hardly anyone visits. All books of the NNL have been packed in sacks and stored at Mahendra Bhawan Secondary School, Gaucharan. These two libraries cannot be reopened for public unless the government reconstructs the damaged buildings built way back in 1895 and 1912. However, detailed designs of the archaeological buildings are yet to be prepared. The Department of Archaeology must take initiatives to rebuild them at the earliest.