CB BureauIt is over nine months
since that tragic day when a massive earthquake hit Nepal. Even today,
thousands of survivors are fighting to get their lives back to normal. Living
in sub-zero temperatures in flimsy temporary shelters, the victims are biding
time due to the strange slowdown in the development process because of an unstable
government at the centre. One example of such delay is Nepal’s Reconstruction Authority
(NRA), which is meant to oversee the rebuilding. It was only set up in December
last year after months of political bickering, despite donor pledges of
billions in aid.
As per media reports, quake victims have so far
received just $150 in compensation per household, while the government has
promised an additional $2,000 once the NRA is able to disburse funds. The NRA
is now conducting a detailed assessment of the quake-hit areas and hopes to
begin rebuilding by April. In the meantime, the survivors are dependent on aid
and relief support by non-profit organisations, which have been raising funds
from across the globe and utilising the same to provide basic amenities in
quake-hit areas, especially the remote regions where the poorest of the world’s
poor are suffering.
One
such non-profit is BoscoNet, the resource-mobilisation wing of All-India Don
Bosco Society. The organisation shared their Nepal report with CauseBecause
with an appeal to sensitise people to support their efforts.
BoscoNet
operates from four places in Nepal and fortunately none of them suffered much
during the quake, making it possible for the team to focus on the needs of
families hit by the catastrophe. In the earthquake
of 25 April 2015, about 8,800 people were killed and over 23,000 were injured. In
some regions, almost all houses, schools, hospitals, and public buildings had been
shattered and government/public machinery had come to a complete halt. The
immediate needs were water, food, emergency shelters, and efforts focused on hygiene
to prevent epidemics. Team Bosco started by providing all of these in about 11
quake-hit sites.
Don
Bosco’s head office in Rome made an immediate call to all its affiliate institutes
to execute as many relief operations as they could and at the same time
appealed to their well-wishers and donors from around the world to contribute. As
per the BoscoNet report, their relief programme is in the second phase wherein
they are reconstructing lost infrastructure. The government of Nepal has also granted
them permission to construct ‘temporary learning centres’ for 46 government
schools in Lalitpur district, the worst-hit by the disaster.
Father
Jijo John, the leader of the Nepal Don Bosco Society, received a certificate of
appreciation from the government of Nepal for their tireless efforts in
reaching out to the earthquake victims.
The
Bosco report, however, also agrees that working with a long-term perspective is
not at all easy. There is a sense of depression amongst communities, and
understandably so. Earning a livelihood, rebuilding a house, educating the
children, are all prospects that can daunt the bravest under trying
circumstances. Some survivors even feel that those who have died are better off.
For such pessimism to be overcome and nullified, the rehabilitation efforts
have to be strengthened manifold and carried out in a collaborative spirit.
To
know more about BoscoNet’s efforts in Nepal and to make a contribution, you may
write to [email protected].