Earthquake victims have urged the government and the political parties to speed up the reconstruction works.  

Thousands of people who were displaced by the April 25 earthquake are still living in tents, waiting for the government to form the National Reconstruction Authority. The National Reconstruction Authority Bill was passed by a House panel on Wednesday, a crucial step towards formation of the authority.

“Nearly eight months have passed since the earthquake and all the major political parties have been at the government at one time or the

other in this duration. We urge the government and the parties to speed up the reconstruction works” said Krishna Sharma of Sindhupalchok, one of the worst earthquake hit districts.

  Sharma was speaking at a programme attended by the leaders of the ruling CPN-UML, UCPN (Maoist), Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, Janamorcha Nepal, and the main opposition, Nepali Congress, in the Capital on Wednesday.

The earthquake victims also expressed disappointment at the government for announcing only Rs 10,000 as winter relief.

“The earthquake relief took almost three months to reach us. Who knows how long will we have to wait this time for the winter relief to reach us?” said Nirjala Chitrakar, an earthquake victim from Lalitpur.

Deputy Prime Minister Chitra Bahadur KC admitted that the formation of the authority was delayed due to the bickering among the political parties.

“The government and the political parties have failed to understand the seriousness of the  plight of the quake victims,” he said, expressing hope that the authority will soon be formed.

Bimala Rai Paudyal, former member of the National Planning Commission, warned that delaying the reconstruction works will worsen the humanitarian problems faced by the earthquake victims.  

“A huge humanitarian crisis is imminent and we are ill-prepared to handle the situation,” she said.  

Unicef has already expressed concern that due to severe shortages of fuel, food, medicines and vaccines, more than three million children under the age of five are at risk of dying or getting sick.