UK to spend direct after Nepali aid failure

One year after earthquake victims are still living in tin shacks as disaster relief billions remain unspent

BRITISH officials have started spending aid money directly to help rebuild devastated Nepal out of frustration that local officials have been so slow to enact a disaster recovery plan a year after an earthquake that killed thousands.

The disaster struck a year ago today, but in that time not a single home has been rebuilt with the help of the Nepalese government – despite billions of dollars pledged.

Tens of thousands of Nepalis are now facing a second monsoon season living in temporary shelter, while $4.1 billion (£2.9 billion) pledged by donors including the United States, the European Union and the World Bank lies almost totally untouched. Britain alone pledged £70 million at a donor conference in June last year.

The disaster killed 9,000 people and damaged almost a million homes.

Desmond Swayne, international de- velopment minister, said this month: “We are increasingly focusing on longer term recovery, supporting rubble clearance and the restoration of vital infrastructure such as health services and police stations. Recovering from a disaster is a huge task and it can take decades for countries to properly mend. The building season in Nepal has now begun.”

UK aid has helped restore healthcare for 5.6 million people in affected districts, giving cash direct to 100,000 people, and clearing more than 6,000 cubic metres of rubble.

But frustrations with the speed of re- building remain. It took nine months for the Nepalese government to set up a body to take charge of the recovery, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA). Now operational, the NRA has taken just £700 million from the pot of international loans and grants.

Kenichi Yokoyama, Nepal head of one of the donor organisations, Asia Development Bank, said: “We really need to see actual reconstruction start to happen, and start to happen fast. I think many donor agencies are getting very frustrated.”

Another official in Nepal, who did not want to be named, added: “There are many excuses, but they don’t work for the affected people. The co-ordinators’ meeting feels almost like wasting time.” Charity bosses working locally were blunt. “We need to help the communities affected by the disaster. We have to fast-track this, otherwise people will die,” said Dr Prabin Manandhar, Nepal head of the Christian charity, the Lutheran World Federation.

The NRA says things are now happening. In March, it gave out the first “compensation grants” to help people rebuild their houses to 50 people living in Dolakha district, one of the worst-affected areas. Each recipient was given 50,000 of an eventual 200,000 Nepali rupees (£328 of £1,314).

“The people’s discontent is so high, they want faster service … but we have had very difficult circumstances,” said Ram Thapaliya, of the NRA

After the earthquake the government focused on creating a new constitution which sparked protests from some ethnic groups and a blockade until February at the India border, through which supplies were to arrive including fuel and medicine. The government has now admitted that most of the people in temporary shelters will spend another monsoon under tin roofs.