How is Nepal recovering after the devastating Earthquake?

25 April 2015, the black day for the country that nearly killed 9000 people and injured nearly 22000. Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese were homeless with entire villages flattened. Old heritage buildings were destroyed including some at the Kathmandu Durbar square, Patan Durbar square, the Bhaktapur Durbar Square, the Changu Narayan Temple, Boudhanath Stupa and the Swayambhunath Stupa. Dharahara, the Bhimsen Tower which was a nine-storey and 61.88-meter-tall tower was destroyed. Even after that, there were continued aftershocks throughout Nepal. It’s been four years after the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal. The recovery is painful for the families who lost their loved ones to continue to live in traumatic conditions.

Immediate aftermath relief and rescue work began swiftly, with local volunteers working with the army and international aid workers. However, the recovery effort has slowed to crawl. Lack of accountability, political bickering, and poor management funds have all hampered the efforts to rebuild. To oversee the rebuilding government and opposition parties created a new public body National Reconstruction Authority (NRA). Despite the pressure from international donors and humanitarian agencies, there are not any good responses.

The billions of dollars committed by the international donors were not translated into a clear plan to direct the money. Donors have therefore preferred to give it to international NGOs instead of state options; in Gorkha alone there 300 different NGOs operating immediately after the earthquake. Boudhanath Stupa was first restored similarly Patan temple, Dharahara and Bhaktapur durbar square are still under the recovery process. The scale of the damage is huge and the construction costs to a country already poor are overwhelming. The challenge is to rebuild in a way that makes Nepal more resilient to future earthquakes.