by Inge Leuverink
It’s 7.30 in the morning. We are driving through Kathmandu, to the training center where I will give a training for Nepalese organizations. Looking out of the window, I see many collapsed houses and cracked buildings, supported by poles.
It has been nearly a year now since a major earthquake hit Nepal and rebuilding proves to be challenging. Our Cordaid country director Milan mentions that the government is about to start the reconstruction of the temples that tourists like to see when they stay in Kathmandu. People's houses have to wait.
Recovery takes time
Rebuilding after a major disaster is often a challenge. I know that from previous experience in Cordaid projects. Do you remember the Tsunami, the earthquake in Haiti, and more recently typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines? Recovery often takes longer than we hope for. Also in the Netherlands; it took longer than expected to rebuild a neighborhood after a fireworks factory exploded in the city of Enschede, back in 2000.
So I know the challenges. Yet I am impatient. It is my nature. To my surprise, some of the Nepalese Cordaid staff show the same feeling, even though usually their Asian patience is exemplary.
Housing is high priority
So, why is it taking so long to rebuild in Nepal? Let’s be fair; it is mainly the housing that is a challenge. Other activities of Cordaid and local partners in water and sanitation, livelihood, disaster risk reduction are progressing according to plan. However for the affected people, housing is high on their priority list.
The major issue is the housing policy of the government. There are no regulations, especially not on what NGOs (international ones like Cordaid or our Nepalese partners) can or cannot do to assist people in rebuilding their houses. In Nepal, politics are complicated and of course it is very political to decide who is going to get the support of the government.
Organizing it is another challenge. Just a small example: the government intends to give grants of around 2000 Euro to families with damaged houses to rebuild their homes. However, many of those who have lost their house do not have bank accounts. And affected people need to be informed first, make sure they have the necessary documents and open a bank account, while many live in remote villages without a bank. That is simply not going to happen anytime soon.
In the meantime, the hands of NGOs are still tied and the affected families are getting frustrated. And that is having an impact on our Nepalese staff and local partners. We are eager to support families who want to rebuild their houses and hope the policies will be clear by the end of April. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
Future disasters
But first, we are training local organizations to do recovery activities with communities and support them to be stronger, to face future hazards and disasters. It sounds weird, but disasters also create opportunities to do this and bounce back better.
On Saturday, I will travel to villages in Rasuwa district where Cordaid and partners work. I look forward to seeing more of the realities of recovery in villages over there and I will try to keep you posted.