There is a lot that could have gone right in the 15 months since the earthquake to comfort the survivors from one of the worst tragedies to hit Nepal in our lifetime. Earthquake survivors in seven of the 14 worst affected districts have received not a single penny of the house reconstruction grant even as they have already braved one winter and two summers in filmsy shelters. The beneficiary verification process has not started in three districts of the Kathmandu Valley. This year monsoon is under-way in full force, yet the government has done almost nothing to relocate survivors from over 419 settlement areas that are at risk of rain-induced landslides. Immediately after the earthquake, the government’s own Department of Mines and Geology had identified these settlements for immediate relocation.

As the second monsoon is causing floods and landslides, of the total half a million households deemed eligible for housing assistance, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has signed agreements with only 208,179. The number of those who have received the first installment is 22,546. Work is taking place at a snail place by the government’s own admission.

Much of the delay is down to the absence of a clear strategy and work plan of the NRA leadership. Following the verification process, considerable time was lost in reaching aid agreements with beneficiaries. Even when aid agreements were signed, the NRA had failed to sort out banking arrangement to transfer the cash immediately.

It is clear that coordination between government departments is woefully inadequate, compounded by lack of clear division of labour between the NRA and the regular agencies. The confusion and lack of accountability within the agencies, including the Ministry of Home Affairs and the NRA, has turned one disaster into a series of tragedies for thousands of survivors forced to live in temporary shelters.

Last year, a weak monsoon became a saving grace and yet the time it afforded for government agencies to plan and execute a plan to provide assistance to those vulnerable to landslides and other water-induced disasters was missed in bureaucratic dilly-dallying and partisan wrangling.

While the NRA and other government agencies have been slow to act, ultimately the prime minister as the head of government should take full responsibility for the continuing apathy of the government institutions, particularly the NRA and the Home Ministry, towards its citizens. We have seen no sense of urgency in responding to the plight of the earthquake survivors. Either our government officials are out of touch with reality or they frankly don’t care. Such continuing cavalier attitude towards the plight of citizens erodes trust in state institutions and does not bode well for the future of democracy.