Still under a tin roof – 2 years post-quake, video

One question rises above all others on the 2-year anniversary of the earthquake in Nepal: how could it take so long to distribute the government reconstruction grant? Until now, less than 2,000 of the over 600,000 eligible households who lost their homes in the April 24, 2015, disaster have received more than the 1st instalment – a mere 50,000 rs. – an amount which can barely cover the costs of building the foundation for any new house.

Shortly after the earthquake, the government high-handedly promised every victim household a total reconstruction grant of 200,000 rs., recently raised to even 300,000 rs., and yet hundreds of thousands of households still live in tin shacks unable to afford building a new house. The situation is more or less the same across the fourteen worst affected districts, as shown opposite. Many of these households – already badly tested by the elements summer and winter – will face a third monsoon under a tin roof.

The official reason for the government’s delay in distributing the grant starts with problems of making an ”exact count” of the victims. Then comes difficulties in issuing ”victim’s ID cards” and a troubled procedure of releasing the grants only through local bank accounts. Along the way, political in-fighting over who was to chair the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) only made matters worse. Can these problems, though, explain the whole delay in distributing the reconstruction grant? Well, it’s hard to judge or know for sure. But it’s certain that the earthquake has proven to be a prolonged disaster:

Living under a tin roof will continue for the far majority of victim households for still some months to come!