Nepal deals with the coronavirus pandemic 5 years after the earthquake

Are we considered one type of disaster for another? Five years after the devastating earthquakes, the Nepalese citizens and their government are thinking about this question while they are closing down due to the Corona virus pandemic.

After the earthquakes in 2015, nearly 9,000 people were killed, while more than 800,000 lost their homes and 2.8 million were displaced. In many rural areas, earthquakes have multiplied the effects of the decade-long civil war that ended in 2006 but left the country in a period of protracted political instability.

Now, nearly 30 million Nepalese citizens have been assigned to stay at home since March 24, and the tourism trade and other international supply chains on which the country is heavily dependent have shrunk. Despite relatively few confirmed cases earlier, the virus is now spreading in many regions of the country.

Nepal’s experience in these successive disturbances can help us understand how multiple gaps may not only challenge societies, but also help them create complex approaches to anticipating and mitigating systemic disturbances. These are the skills needed to tackle the epidemic everywhere.

Shortage of labor and financing for reconstruction

Each disaster is different, but it can reveal systemic patterns in its wake. In Nepal, civil strife and earthquakes occurred and now the epidemic during the rapid economic and social transformation, including Nepal’s transition from agricultural economics to monetary economics, and expanded labor migration.

When disaster strikes, those who are already in a precarious situation in these large-scale transitions may suffer more. In each of the three crises in Nepal, top-down response mechanisms were insufficient to engage its most vulnerable citizens.

A couple in Dulakha, Nepal, grinds millet in front of their newly reconstructed house, wearing masks according to public health directives, in April 2020.
(Kedar Touhami) Author submitted

Sustainable peace is far from reality. This is partly due to the fact that some of the most affected populations were not substantially involved in the peace process after the civil war. (The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Nepal has never completed its mission.)

Likewise, people affected by the earthquake were not fully included in the planning of reconstruction policies, such as material selection and housing designs. Many are dissatisfied with the approach to reconstruction and the homes they had to build.

Civil war and political instability pushed more people to emigrate, resulting in transfers that now account for 30 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

This migration is likely to reduce the death toll from the earthquake, and external transfers have helped fund reconstruction. Now, remittances are at risk as the COVID-19 crisis slows economies and international labor flows stop.

Lessons from the Nepal Reconstruction Program

Our research shows that private housing reconstruction grants and loans were essential to the rebuilding process. As governments around the world now offer unprecedented support programs for large parts of their population, Nepal’s National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) experience in disbursing private housing reconstruction grants can provide some useful lessons.

Read more:
Two years after the earthquake, why has Nepal failed to recover?

First, quickly establishing drainage authorities and channels is essential. But vested political interests can cloud the immediate needs of a disaster response. It took about six months for the national commission to be empowered and formally operational. The delay was due to disputes between political parties.

Second, the payments must be large and easy to obtain. Very low payments simply go to everyday stay expenses. While they are welcome, they have not enabled homeowners to complete the reconstruction. Most families had to complete remittances or other income.

Five years after the disaster, the official completion rate is around 65 percent. Many are still unable to complete reconstruction or continue to live in weak structures.

The strict building codes imposed by engineers – in a place where most homeowners had previously housed their building without the need for a building permit – slowed down the drainage process considerably, as many people were unable to meet design requirements due to a lack of capital, materials, or skilled the work. The regulations were eventually relaxed to enable people to complete their homes and receive the full grant amount.

Women and members of historically marginalized groups have faced unequal challenges in accessing these resources to build their homes. Although the provisions of gender equality and social inclusion were emphasized in the reconstruction policy documents, implementation was not present on the ground. NRA lacks any clear evidence of women in leadership roles.

Empty streets of Kathmandu during closure, April 2020.
(Deepak Thapa), author presented

Third, the informal financial sector was essential to obtaining loans. Although NRA depicted payments through banks as enhancing transparency and enabling a large segment of the rural population to access financial institutions, there were significant restrictions in this process.

Banks imposed such tax conditions on borrowers, who received only a few official government subsidized loans. Instead, many resorted to informal borrowing from relatives, local lenders, and cooperatives. Although flexible and mostly channeled through societal norms, some of these loans have had abusive interest rates.

For those who have almost completed remodeling, the current closure may present an opportunity to end local projects. With no opportunities for paid work, some families use time at home to finalize their new homes. But for those who couldn’t finish building, the closure might seem like a cruel joke. How do you stay home when you don’t have one?

Weakness and solidarity

The informal economic sector has been devastated by the shutdown of the COVID-19 system, increasing the risks for those who need it most. The marginalization of the working class has increased in marginal economic situations and migrants without social security as a result of the three crisis situations.

The country is now seeing convoys of internal migrants returning to their villages after losing their jobs in Kathmandu and other cities. Likewise, international migrants who contribute 30 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product are in precarious conditions in destination countries – unemployed and unable to feed themselves, but also unable to return to their homes.

However, closing the borders and sharp falls in the flow of people does not mean ending solidarity. On the contrary, the Nepalese diaspora can help, especially through financial contributions, as they did in the aftermath of earthquakes. In the context of the epidemic as well, it has been the lifeblood of many.

Five years later, earthquake-affected communities in Nepal have not returned to their pre-disaster state. Instead, they formed a new life through a mixture of creativity, persistence, careful use of available resources and hard-earned income, with some governmental and international interventions. Now, the lessons they have learned may have a new meaning.

Deepak Thapa contributed to this piece. He is Director of Social Sciences Bahaa in Kathmandu, Nepal.

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