Nepalese girls look at relief materials brought for those affected by April’s earthquake in Nepal. Pic: AP.
Failed governance and lack of funds continue to hinder post-earthquake relief and reconstruction efforts, writes Alexandra Demetrianova
MONTHS have passed since the deadly Nepal earthquake, which left 8,800 people dead and millions in need of relief aid and reconstruction of destroyed communities. While the first days to weeks after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck brought massive sympathy and support, now it’s back to reality. The Himalayan country has been left with little attention and in dire need of more aid and funds. Simply put, the promises of aid and relief haven’t translated into the practical steps required.
The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) recently reported it doesn’t have enough money to pay for helicopter relief and rescue in areas inaccessible by road. Roughly 139 remote communities are still cut off and need assistance. But out of the US$18 million needed to continue this relief operation until October 2015, only US$8.8 million has been received. The gap is US$9.2 million and without it the helicopter relief efforts will cease to exist by the end of this month.
“Because of great need in remote areas, exacerbated by the recent monsoon weather delays, we currently have a significant backlog,” said Edmondo Perrone, UNHAS logistics cluster coordinator. Moreover, there is lack of other equipment and material: “We have pending requests to move about 650 metric tons of emergency supplies, and new requests for the movement of cargo continue to be received daily. About 35 organizations are waiting for airlifts, which emphasizes how desperate the need is for this service right now.”
UNHAS has warned that without helicopter relief almost 150,000 people in remote areas destroyed by the earthquake will be left without emergency shelter, food and livelihood support. The monsoon season and expected landslides will make the post-earthquake reconstruction even more difficult and might cut access to these communities altogether.
“Airlift support is crucial for the ongoing relief operation,” said Jamie McGoldrick, Humanitarian Coordinator in Nepal.
A Nepalese boy stands outside his village with a signboard asking for help in Pauwathok village, Sindhupalchok district, Nepal in May. Pic: AP.
But immediate disaster relief and rescue aren’t enough and more needs to be done in the long-term in Nepal to prepare communities for similar disasters and make them more resilient. Nepali journalist and editor-in-chief of Nepali Times Kunda Dixit has been tweeting and keeping social media up to date about post-earthquake relief efforts for months now. He has also created much needed lists of relief aid needed – materials and staff – as well as the areas most in need of assistance.
Speaking to Asian Correspondent, Mr. Dixit warned that, because of the monsoon season, it is absolutely necessary to keep carrying out rescue work while delivering relief and planning long-term rehabilitation. “The principle should be to build back better,” he said. “Not just to rebuild, but make new houses safer, more environmentally friendly and less energy intensive, in harmony with our cultural heritage.”
Months after the earthquake and immediate disaster relief, many begin to reflect on what has been done and what could have been managed better. Many are critical to how disaster relief has been delivered in Nepal. The current humanitarian crisis only reflects the general state of the affairs in Nepal.
Peter Sammerud, a long-term resident in Pokhara, originally from Sweden, spoke to Asian Correspondent about humanitarian situation in the country immediately after earthquake: “In short it was a disaster, at least for the victims. There was lack of local representatives as Nepal hasn’t had elections for two decades. Therefore local distribution of relief and aid was very difficult, only partial and prey to political interests.”
While some constituencies got help fast, others haven’t at all, even after weeks post-earthquake, remaining inaccessible and helpless. Petter admits that the whole aid apparatus became a political battlefield of power and money. “At Kathmandu airport, masses of disaster relief and aid haven’t gotten through the customs due to regulations. They kept the red tape as alive as possible. Every single item of aid coming in was to be declared at customs,” he said.
Pic: Mat Carney.
Planes loaded with aid and specialist disaster relief were waiting in Baku and Delhi for weeks, while people were dying, Petter said. When this information hit the news, the Nepali government tried to appease international community and earthquake survivors and set up “The President’s Relief Fund”. But in a country with such high level of corruption and an ineffective government, this caused more outcry than signs of hope.
Millions in need and exploitation of vulnerable groups
The deadly earthquake, fear of strong aftershocks and the insufficient relief and aid delivery were a tough test for spirit of people in Nepal. Petter shared his experience from Pokhara, which had luckily been one of the least affected. “After the first one people were really scared and talking about even a bigger one coming. With more aftershocks, people chose to stay and live outside. It was like living on a jelly surface,” he said.
But he admitted an admirable sense of solidarity as strangers gathered to spend the night together for talk and sleep, going back to their homes in the morning. The social benefits of Nepalis coming together stronger and supportive is still evident. Petter’s friend Shoba, whom he is supporting for education, was disillusioned: “This is not living, it is as if we were already dead. Better just live as normal and leave it to god.” So three weeks post-earthquake, people just gave up and moved back into their homes, but were constantly alert, sleeping with their clothes on, Petter said.
“Food and prices are another topic altogether. Harvest in autumn will be severely afflicted as large seed-storage facilities have been destroyed, so rice must be imported and prices sky rocket, because the government has no mechanism in place to keep a roof on prices,” he said.
April’s earthquake has affected around 8 million people in various parts of Nepal, but the most vulnerable are those living in remote areas and out of Kathmandu. While most relief aid has been focused on the capital, there are hundreds of thousands of others fending for themselves. Survivors also report that aid in many areas is being politically motivated, Amnesty International has warned. Those with political connections claim supplies, which are needed and meant for everyone.
A Nepalese couple rides past while carrying a sack of wheat flour through earthquake damaged buildings in Kathmandu, Nepal. Pic: AP.
Moreover, the humanitarian disaster has created opportunities for ill-fated attempts at exploitation of Nepalis, who are now in need of funds to rebuild their communities and lives. Weeks ago, The Guardian reported on Indian trafficking gangs taking advantage of Nepalis. Mainly women are under threat to be trafficked as sex slaves. It was reported that police uncovered a human trafficking network offering women in areas destroyed by earthquake lucrative jobs. If they gave into these offers, they could have easily found themselves traded as forced labor or sex workers – often in the Gulf, as The Guardian reported. UN agencies have warned about the threat of increased human trafficking in light of the earthquake destruction and desperation to find funds and much needed support. In normal times without a humanitarian disaster, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 women and children are trafficked from Nepal each year. The majority of them end up as sex workers in India, but some of them are destined for South Korea or even South Africa. The Gulf remains one of the most frequent destinations for forced labor and human trafficking from South Asia.
Uncoordinated relief and failed governance
In real terms, much can be blamed on the long-term lack of support and the little attention Nepal has been receiving from international community and donors. Two decades without elections, constitution or effective government ever since the civil war ended intensified the price Nepal has been paying post-earthquake. Mr. Kunda Dixit admitted that failed governance has the main responsibility for the current situation in Nepal: “The government had a slow start because of poor governance and structural inefficiencies in the bureaucracy. There was a lot of confusion because of ad-hoc decisions and lack of coordination. A lot of those problems persist.”
And so it will be a challenge to reconstruct the 700,000 houses destroyed in April earthquake, especially with lack of transparency and accountability, said Mr. Dixit. Donors might turn away if corruption and manipulation of aid aren’t addressed. Those who don’t will see their aid and relief efforts being politically used and not delivered to the people who need it the most.
Many agree that it is the Nepali army that has been the most active and effective in delivering post-earthquake relief and aid. Petter agreed: “The army was very efficient and did the toughest work of all. Many died and sacrificed their lives in rescue missions while their political leaders were busy figuring how much money they could get out of the disaster.” In Nepal the army functions more or less independent from the government. “They became the heroes for the people and symbol of resilience and solidarity,” Petter added, underlining also the role of locally organized initiatives, NGOs and international community, who together with Nepali army and police did a “fantastic job” immediately after the earthquake.
Nepalese soldiers prepare to board a helicopter during relief efforts in May. Pic: AP.
Post-earthquake Nepal has often been compared to the case of Haiti and the international humanitarian sector has been warning against uncoordinated individual aid and relief efforts. While this certainly had some grounds given tons of unnecessary aid arriving to Haiti, in Nepal the scenario has been slightly different. Many local and individual initiatives have helped people where the government failed or put the red tape on international humanitarian efforts. Valentina Ramirez from Columbia was a tourist traveling through Nepal when the earthquake struck. At that time she was in a meditation course in Lumbini, which had been considered a dangerous zone. She chose to stay and give helping hand in relief and reconstruction efforts. Quickly she became one of countless unskilled volunteers, thanks to whom many Nepalis were able to survive.
Valentina contacted all NGOs she knew offering her help and any, which were ready to receive and use independent volunteers. Eventually social media was the way – she joined a group Kathmandu Independent Volunteers on Facebook, where people were posting different kinds of projects one could join to help. Then she took a bus out of Kathmandu and found that in many of the destroyed areas tourist guesthouses were full of volunteers. She joined others and they organized their own team and began doing their own projects.
“Basically we found a village, which needed the most help and used a web page to submit reports on Google Maps saying how many families were living there and what kind of problems they faced. We provided a local phone number and contact and verified through local police that the information was true,” she said.
Then together with other volunteers they brought trucks of rice to those in need with at least one volunteer overseeing the aid delivery being aware, that in times of humanitarian crisis in countries with high level of corruption and poverty, many take advantage of the situation for their own benefits.
The next stage was building temporary facilities, which would prevent spread of diseases and worsen the situation post-earthquake. “We started building temporary toilets and sanitation projects. Groups of volunteers went to villages in the mountains to develop these facilities and also educate the people how to keep most hygiene possible for prevention,” she said.
The last stage was empowerment of locals in order to make them self-sufficient and ready for when all the volunteers eventually leave. This included building long-term shelters and showing ways of how to help the people in their communities. Such as: find trucks with rice, negotiate the price, buy the needed materials for shelters and toilets. “It is very important to say, that we always worked with locals to get better prices and for translations with the villagers of course.” Naturally money was needed to fund these initiatives. “We used social media and our friends all over the world to raise donations. Many people don’t trust big organizations when donating or trying to help people in faraway regions.“
This is not surprising, as the case of American Red Cross and how it used the raised donations in Haiti suggests. When asked about government and international aid, Valentina said that even though they were present, it was never enough. “They focused on the most affected areas, where they needed helicopters and large scale operations, but many villages haven’t received any aid at all even after three weeks after earthquake.”
Relief agencies move out, but need for maternal & child care is greater than ever http://t.co/z7f8iDIfdl @omastharai pic.twitter.com/3F1V2o6eLe
— Nepali Times (@nepalitimes) August 5, 2015
Some of the lessons learned from Nepal include the fact that Nepal is not Haiti. Every country is specific and therefore the disaster relief and aid should be addressed according to country’s needs. Nepal is still one of the poorest countries in its region with little infrastructure and difficult, mountainous terrain. High levels of corruption and lack of elected and accountable government clearly suggest that aid should be channeled through transparent agencies. Enough attention and funds need to be given to smaller NGO projects and local community initiatives, which often have better knowledge of local needs and practices.
Also, the safety of foreigners and commercial flights should not be given priority over the welfare of locals and basically all people, who are still under the rubble and in need of drinking water, food, medicines and shelter.
Lastly, disaster relief and reconstruction efforts need to continue long-term, not only during the highest media attention. In any disaster-stricken country, long-term development is key to preventing another humanitarian crisis in the future. Mr. Kunda Dixit called on all agencies to give enough attention to long-term development in Nepal.
“The lesson learned is, that countries need to be prepared. There is no better way to save lives. We have to be prepared not just with safer housing and infrastructure, but also have an efficient disaster preparedness plan that can be up and running the next time there is a disaster,” he said.
Much of Nepal’s economy depends on tourism, but post-earthquake there was rather an exodus of foreigners seeking safety. While this is a natural phenomenon, now – three months after earthquake –Nepal needs tourists and foreign visitors more than ever. The best one can do right now is not to forget Nepal, come support local economy and people striving to rebuild their lives.
About the author
Alexandra Demetrianova is a freelance journalist based in Bangkok covering politics, society and life in Southeast Asia. She specializes in human rights, environment and development. Originally from Slovakia, she is currently finishing a Masters degree in International Relations at the Faculty of Political Science at Thammasat University.