National
Quake-hit in remote areas left in lurch
Rendered homeless by the April 25 quake, Ram Maya Chepang with her one-and-a-half month old son at Kakada-8 in the district has been barely managing for her survival.Pratap Bista
“As my body is not able to produce adequate breast milk owing to the lack of proper diet, my child cries relentlessly breaking my heart,” Ram Maya said, adding that her family members are living in a cave after the quake destroyed their house and surviving on edible wild roots and spinach for the past one week.
Like Ram Maya, a nine-member family displaced by the quake has also been living in a cave at Elpuk in Dhirang. They too do not have anything other than a few tattered clothes, some kitchen utensils and fish nets to protect themselves from wind and hailstones.
The families said they had received five manas of rice, a packet of salt, some edible oil and a bottle of drinking water as relief from the VDC office two weeks ago but that lasted only for a week.
Just two years ago, locals had helped construct a hut for the Chepang family but they were forced to return to the cave. “The authorities did not even provide us a tarpaulin saying that we do not need it as we are living in a cave,” the family members said.
Meanwhile, local Raj Kumar Chepang said many quake victims spread across the remote village have not received any government aid as they were unaware about relief distribution.
Shreemaya Chepang of Dhirang, who is living with her 13-member family on the river banks, complained that they had not received a single grain of rice as relief. She said she walked three hours to reach Dungthali in Kankada-1 to receive relief but had return empty-handed. “Most displaced people in Dhirang have been deprived of relief,” she said, adding that even walking around is strenuous as the land has developed cracks.
VDC Secretary Chunlal Shrestha admitted that the victims in the remote village received fairly less amount of relief in comparison to those in other accessible areas.