Sankhu (Nepal), Apr 25 (AP) The paved alleys are still lined by the skeletons of homes once filled with families. Shop shelves are empty, and the water well in the center of town remains clogged by fallen debris. Children carefully side-step piles of broken brick on their way to school. This is life today in the tiny Nepalese farming town of Sankhu, once famed for its lively Hindu temple festivals and rich produce markets just outside the capital of Kathmandu. Nearly everything was lost on April 25, 2015, when a terrifying earthquake shook the Himalayan nation, killing more than 9,000 people and toppling nearly a million homes nationwide. Little progress has been made in the two years since, raising questions about the government’s commitment to the recovery effort as well as the fate of billions of dollars in foreign aid. In Sankhu, where the quake claimed 98 lives and toppled 800 homes, most of the remaining residents have struggled to restore what they once had. Many say they have yet to receive any help from the government despite pledges of aid money and help with bank loans. “Our town was once one of the best known towns in the country,” said 70-year-old Komal Nath Shrestha. “Now all we have is ruins and no hope.” Shrestha spent four hours after the quake buried in the rubble of his ruined four-story home before family members pulled him out. Now, he is among hundreds in Sankhu living in tin sheds and tarpaulin tents that have popped up in fields and along roadsides as meager protection from winter cold and summer rains. The violence and devastation wrought by the earthquake dominated newspaper headlines worldwide and triggered an outpouring of foreign concern. Aid pledges totaling $4.2 billion poured in — about half what the government estimates it will cost to rebuild homes and infrastructure. The government is still collecting that foreign aid, with agreements signed already for USD 3.1 billion. But to date, it has spent only USD 330,000. That’s allowed Nepal to rebuild just 3.5 per cent of 626,694 homes so far counted as having been destroyed in the quake. And even that count is incomplete, including only homes in the 14 worst-hit districts. There are still another 17 districts to survey. (AP)
