Almost two years after the Gorkha Earthquake, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has started to sign housing aid agreements with the earthquake survivors in Parbat and Bhojpur districts. 

The NRA has allocated Rs 58.2 million and Rs 56.9 million respectively to be distributed to the earthquake-hit people in the two districts as the first instalment of the aid, according to officials.

In Parbat, the earthquake victims at Tilahar settlement of Modi Village Council-6 signed the aid agreements after the engineers mobilised by the NRA completed their survey and data collection there.

Tulasiram Sharma of the NRA District Coordination Committee said aid distribution process could take a while to be completed as the engineers were still surveying eight villages that were hit by the earthquake of April 25, 2015.

Till date, the NRA engineers have identified 4,373 families in Parbat who are eligible to receive the housing aid. The District Disaster Management Committee has placed the number of earthquake-destroyed homes at 12,119.

Assistant Chief District Officer Prabin Dhakal said the number of housing aid recipients will increase with the NRA engineers still conducting the survey.

Local Development Officer Bishnu Prasad Bhusal said their plan was to start distributing the first instalment of the aid (Rs 50,000 each) before June.

In Bhojpur, the NRA signed the aid agreements with three earthquake-affected households at Bhojpur Municipality on Tuesday, said Local Development Officer Sita Pariyar.