Catholic charity leads efforts in providing homes for Nepal quake victims
A Catholic charity is leading the efforts in rebuilding the homes that were destroyed by the huge earthquakes that struck Nepal in 2015.
Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) have teamed up with local masons to launch the Safer Homes Rebuilding project.
Giovanna Reda, head of humanitarian programmes for Asia, Middle East and Latin America at CAFOD, said that the aid agency's efforts include supporting its local partners to run training workshops so that people from the affected communities can build houses that can withstand earthquakes.
"Women were disproportionately affected by the impacts of the earthquake — many lost their husbands and homes — and these workshops have been a lifeline for the women involved, allowing them to learn new skills and earn a living from them," said Reda, according to ReliefWeb.
"Progress is being made to rebuild and recover. We are thrilled to report that thousands of families across earthquake-affected areas have now received reconstruction grants and re-building is underway," he continued.
The rebuilding efforts have faced several challenges over the last two years because of monsoon rains, fuel shortages, price hikes and delays in establishing the government's National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) that coordinates housing reconstruction.
More than £3.9 million (US$5 million) have been donated by CAFOD supporters from England and Wales, enabling the charity to respond to the 15 of the worst-hit areas of Nepal.
"The generosity and compassion shown by CAFOD's supporters has enabled our partners to restore dignity of the people affected and help those who survived the earthquakes to rebuild and prosper," Reda said.
Apart from rebuilding homes, the charity also supported local partners to rebuild schools, repair damaged water systems, help communities restore their means of making a living and prepare for future disasters.
The rebuilding efforts have been sluggish in some parts of Nepal. According to the NRA, less than 100,000 of the 525,000 houses required have been rebuilt or are under construction.
The NRA expressed concern that many are flouting building codes introduced after the disaster, which could expose the residents to fresh risks. As a result, many of the eight million people affected by the earthquake are still living in temporary shelters in tarpaulin tents or bamboo huts in villages across the country.
International donors have donated more than US$4 billion toward the estimated $9 billion required for the reconstruction efforts. Government officials said that they are on target to complete reconstruction by 2020, but another US$3 billion in donor aid is needed for the project.