Coordinator of the volunteer group and Standing Committee member of the UCPN Maoist, Janardan Sharma, said that they had so far built shelter homes for the earthquake victims in Bhandari village of Saurpani and Jhankri Swanra.

“We were able to build 90 temporary shelters in three days,” said Sharma. He also added that the group had provided building materials for another 42 houses.

The volunteers comprise 128 former combatants. According to Sharma the temporary houses they have built are made with zinc sheets and iron rods. “We built the temporary houses based on the models of Ashrya Nepal,” said Sharma.

Sharma further added that the former combatants, after finishing the work in Saurpani, have already mixed with other groups and are currently working to reconstruct houses in other affected areas.

The group is now working to make temporary houses for the people of Barpak, Laprak, Gumda and Jauwarai, said Sharma. “People have been delighted with the work of the People’s Liberation Army,” said Sharma. “But you cannot depend on relief for ever. There comes a time when people have to get back to their daily lives and become independent.”

Sharma also added that students affiliated with the UCPN Maoist had also been involved in the reconstruction work. “The UCPN Maoist party has travelled to all the earthquake-affected villages in Gorkha and have helped them [the vicitims] to better deal with the tragedy that they have faced,” said Sharma.

Volunteers affiliated with the UCPN Maoist Party from Rolpa, Bardiya, Kanchanpur, Banke, Dang, Kailali, Chitwan and Kaski district have come to Gorkha to help build the schools too, which had had been turned to rubble by the April 25 earthquake. They are also building public toilets for the earthquake survivors.

“We have focused on the basic needs of single women and people who have lost their family members in the earthquake,” said District Secretary of UCPN Maoist Kamal Naharki.