Three years of reconstruction special You can obtain the previous editions of ‘Rebuilding Nepal’ from NRA office at Singha Durbar. Cover: Jagat Bahadur Khatri and Chitra Kumari Khatri of Singati, Dolakha. Khatri is the first beneficiary to sign and receive the government’s private housing reconstruction grant. Photo: Chandra Shekhar Karki THREE YEARS OF RECONSTRUCTION NRA Chief Executive Officer of the National Reconstruction Authority Sushil Gyewali addressing a press meet to mark the completion of the NRA’s three years of establishment on December 25, 2018. 77% in private housing, 80% in schools and 95% progress in public buildings The National Reconstruction Author- with 742,135 beneficiaries, out of which in the rebuilding of health institutions, 95 ity (NRA) has publicized the progress 337,319 have completed rebuilding their percent in government buildings, 54 per- made in the post-earthquake reconstruc- houses while 233,343 houses are currently cent in security sector buildings and 68 tion and rehabilitation during three years under construction. percent in the cultural heritage sites. of its establishment and also unveiled the Similarly, 80 percent progress has been “We are on the right track to complete plans for the next two years of its tenure made in the reconstruction of the educa- the reconstruction of private housing during a press conference organized in tional institutions. As per the available within this fiscal year,” said Sushil Gyewa- Kathmandu on December 25. data, 55 percent of the schools have al- li, Chief Executive Officer of the NRA. The NRA has informed that there has ready been reconstructed while 25 percent “As many structures are currently under been 77 percent progress in the recon- of them are currently under construction. construction, we are working towards struction of private housing, out of which Out of the 7,553 damaged schools, 4,172 achieving the goal of completing the re- 45 percent houses have already been com- have been reconstructed while 1,921 are building task within the next two years.” pleted rebuilding while 32 percent houses under construction. CEO Gyewali told journalists that the are currently under construction. As per the data available on recon- NRA is also giving utmost priority to the The NRA has signed the govern- structed and under construction struc- economic and social rehabilitation, along ment’s private housing grant agreement tures, 66 percent progress has been made with the reconstruction of houses. Rebuilding Nepal 1 Message from Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli Contribute from respective sectors in reconstruction The post-earthquake reconstruction and recovery was never meant to be a cake walk. It was a challenging endeavor. But we were able to address all the challenges thanks to our clear vision and planning, which continue to guide us towards achieving our goal. The National Reconstruction Author- of the earthquake survivors. Never before ity (NRA) has completed the first three had our generation dealt with a disaster of years of its establishment, and is entering this magnitude, so we lacked experience of the fourth year. On this occasion, I would spearheading a post-disaster recovery cam- like to extend my best wishes to everyone paign of this scale. But lack of experience associated with the NRA. I would like to was never meant to be an excuse, and we thank everyone involved in rebuilding and wanted to deliver results at the earliest. The restoring the structures destroyed and dam- post-earthquake reconstruction could not aged by the 25 April 2015 earthquake and gain momentum immediately due to institu- its aftershocks. Also, I would like to ask the tional constraints and the lack of adequate NRA to complete the remaining work of resources. The absence of elected represen- the post-earthquake reconstruction and re- tatives of people at local levels and the lack covery project in time. of clear policies and procedures also slowed The NRA was established on the ba- the pace of reconstruction. Therefore, the sis of consensus of all the political parties, initial results of reconstruction work were and with the objective of rebuilding the not satisfactory. But reconstruction re- earthquake-damaged structures in a better, mained a top priority of the government. sustainable, stronger and planned way and As a result, things have changed by the end delivering social justice by relocating, reset- of the third year of the NRA. tling and rehabilitating the earthquake-dis- Our sense of urgency Having lived in tents and then tempo- placed families. In the past three years, in- was not just guided rary shelters, hundreds of thousands of frastructures like private houses, educational Nepalis displaced by the earthquake are institutions, health facilities, cultural heri- by the duty of a moving into newly-built and safe houses. tage, government office buildings, security government, we were Thousands of students are now studying forces’ buildings, roads and drinking water driven to address the in better and safer class rooms. Many villag- have been rebuilt. With the government es have got a face-lift in the course of re- grants and technical support, 77% of the humanitarian needs construction, and now look more beautiful earthquake-damaged houses are already re- of the earthquake than they did before the earthquake. The built or being rebuilt and people have taken survivors. process to relocate seismically hazardous ownership of this reconstruction campaign. and landslide-prone villages and develop in- We consider the progress made so far in the tegrated settlements is under way. Hundreds post-earthquake reconstruction and recov- people made homeless by the earthquake of thousands of the earthquake-damaged ery an important achievement. Similarly, a as soon as possible. We also wanted to structures are being rebuilt better, stron- remarkable progress has been made in re- complete reconstruction of the earth- ger and earthquake-resistant. The progress building schools, health facilities and heri- quake-damaged structures as soon as possi- made in the post-earthquake recovery and tage. ble. Our sense of urgency was not just guid- reconstruction is not just the result of the We wanted to provide permanent hous- ed by the duty of a government, we were government and government agencies ing for hundreds of thousands of Nepali driven to address the humanitarian needs alone. It was made possible also because of 2 Rebuilding Nepal THREE YEARS OF RECONSTRUCTION Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli presiding over the Steering Committee meeting of the National Reconstruction Authority in September 2018. NRA the invaluable support of the international There are still challenges for recon- community, donor agencies, NGOs, various struction of private houses, schools and organizations and local communities. The whole nation is heritage and the socio-economic rehabilita- The post-earthquake reconstruction united to rise from tion of the earthquake survivors. It is also and recovery was never meant to be a cake the rubble and build a our responsibility to address the specific walk. It was a challenging endeavor because needs of the earthquake-affected elderly the earthquake survivors had high expec- new, better, stronger people and physically disabled persons. I tations from the government, and a lot of and safer country. would like to urge all to support the NRA hurdles needed to be removed in the course We are committed to tackle these challenges, and complete its of the post-disaster recovery. But we were mission in time. able to address all the challenges thanks to to accomplish this At the end, I would like to urge all my our clear vision and planning, which contin- mission at the Nepali brothers and sisters to prove that ue to guide us towards achieving our goal. a disaster is also an opportunity to build We have always given utmost importance earliest. back better. I would like to appeal to all the to collective and consistent efforts, resource Nepali people to contribute from their re- management and their effective mobiliza- We all Nepalis are together when it spective sectors to the post-earthquake re- tion. We have always viewed the post-earth- comes to the post-earthquake reconstruc- construction and recovery and disaster risk quake reconstruction as the common chal- tion and recovery. The whole nation is unit- reduction, and help the ‘Prosperous Nepal, lenge and agenda of the nation. This is the ed to rise from the rubble and build a new, Happy Nepalis’ campaign. reason behind the decision to have the lead- better, stronger and safer country. We are er of the main opposition as Vice Chair of committed to accomplish this mission at Message from PM KP Sharma Oli on the occasion of the Steering Committee of the NRA. the earliest. NRA anniversary - from Gorkhapatra Rebuilding Nepal 3 Progress so far and future action plan Political transition and instability certainly slowed down the pace of reconstruction, but we have made a lot of progress in the first three years of the NRA.The policy, legal and organizational structures adopted by the NRA have begun to yield positive results. Sushil Gyewali a five-month-long blockade of Nepal’s southern border points badly impacted The National Reconstruction Authori- the post-earthquake recovery process. The ty (NRA), which was established after the NRA was first established through an or- 25 April 2015 earthquake as a legally man- dinance within the first three months of dated agency for leading the post-disaster the earthquake, but a political oversight recovery and reconstruction, has complet- allowed the ordinance to expire. The NRA ed three years. got dissolved even before its office was set The earthquake that claimed 8,790 up. lives, wounded 22,300 people, destroyed It took another five months for the and damaged over 800,000 houses, 7,553 government to re-establish a legally man- schools, 1,197 health facilities, 415 gov- dated agency for the earthquake recovery ernment buildings, 753 archeologically and reconstruction.