Local units affected by the floods are cautiously hopeful that vital services will be repaired before the deadline set by Oli.

At the 14th meeting of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority held at the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli directed relevant agencies and three levels of government – ​​​​federal, provincial and local – to accelerate relief distribution and reconstruction efforts.

Oli asked officials present to speed up work on distributing relief supplies and rebuilding infrastructure damaged by devastating floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains from September 26 to 28 in central and eastern Nepal.

The Prime Minister gave a timetable for completing specific tasks. For example, he asked the authorities to restore disrupted basic services such as electricity, health establishments and drinking water within 15 days.

He asked agencies to disburse the necessary funds to prepare temporary housing for displaced communities by mid-November.

The government, by decision of the Council of Ministers of October 4, declared the 71 local units of 20 districts “crisis and disaster zones” for a period of three months. Subsequently, the government focused on relief distribution.

Under the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act 2017, the government can announce a disaster crisis zone to respond to a calamity by specifying its boundaries and a deadline.

In areas designated as a crisis, the government may take decisions such as prohibiting any operations that could harm rescue operations, employing public or non-governmental sector employees, and using movable and government, non-government or private buildings, as needed in the event of a disaster. rescue work, in accordance with the law. Additionally, authorities can speed up the procurement process to expedite services in crisis-affected areas within the stipulated time frame.

But are the decisions made Friday by the NDRRMA, the agency that responds to disasters, and the decision taken by the Cabinet on October 4 parallel? Government officials say the two are distinct, although both are aimed at responding to the crisis created by heavy rains.

“Declaring crisis zones and ensuring serious engagement in relief distribution and reconstruction are two different things,” Dil Kumar Tamang, information officer of the Home Ministry, told the Post. “The disaster areas responded to the short-term needs of the population, while Friday’s decision concerns longer-term works.”

Prime Minister Oli on Friday also compared the crisis caused by recent floods and landslides to the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes of 2015.

Prime Minister Oli asked the authorities to quickly conduct a post-disaster needs assessment and organize a conference inviting representatives of donor agencies and foreign governments to secure the necessary funds for reconstruction and rehabilitation in the settlements affected by the disaster.

“We must focus on quickly providing relief and housing to those affected,” Prime Minister Oli said at the meeting.

Despite the prime minister’s claims that he would speed up reconstruction work, some local officials the Post spoke with raised questions about the federal government’s handling of the disaster.

Dinesh Lama, chairman of Roshi Rural Municipality, was one of them. He claims the federal government was unable to provide aid when entire settlements were swept away by landslides in Roshi.

Representatives of many of the 71 local units designated as “crisis areas” said they had not received the financial aid announced by the federal government.

Deepa Bohara, chairperson of Sunkoshi rural municipality in Sindhuli district, said her local unit had not received any assistance from Kathmandu.

“Our municipality suffered more infrastructure damage than human losses, but we are yet to get the compensation of 200,000 rupees announced by the government for the families affected by the disaster,” Bohara told the Post. “We are supposed to get it through the district administrative office, but we are still waiting. »

Representatives of the local units also urged the federal government to relocate the homeless people to a safer place and build shelters for them immediately.

Regarding essential services, including electricity, officials from the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation expressed hope that disrupted services could be restored within the stipulated time frame.

“In the past, people in Kathmandu gave instructions without fully understanding the reality on the ground. We hope this practice will not be repeated this time,” officials told the Post on condition of anonymity.

Friday’s meeting of the NDRRMA decided that federal, provincial and local governments must conduct post-disaster assessment before undertaking reconstruction and rehabilitation work.

At least 250 people died last month in floods and landslides caused by heavy rains that lasted several days, according to Nepalese police.

According to the Department of Hydrology and Metrology, rainfall recorded in Nepal during the last week of September was the highest in at least 54 years. Nepal started recording rainfall data 54 years ago.

The government’s preliminary study claims that the rainfall caused a cumulative loss of around Rs46 billion.