KATHMANDU: Every year on Baisakh 12, Nepal solemnly commemorates the catastrophic earthquake of 2072 BS (2015)—a day etched into the nation’s collective memory.
The earthquake struck at 11:56 AM, leaving behind a trail of destruction and heartbreak. Thousands lost their homes, their loved ones, and their sense of normalcy. Even after ten years, the emotional and physical scars of that tragedy have yet to fade.
Despite the decade that has passed, many damaged homes—especially in Kathmandu’s narrow lanes and remote hillside villages—remain in ruins.
In places where more memories were lost than bricks and mortar, the reconstruction process remains painfully slow. The nation continues to wait for full recovery.
The 7.6-magnitude earthquake, with its epicenter in Barpak, Gorkha, claimed 8,979 lives and completely destroyed close to one million private homes.
The disaster also demolished 7,553 schools, 49,681 classrooms, 544 health posts, and partially damaged another 653 health facilities.
Cultural heritage took a heavy blow too, with 920 heritage sites—including 170 World Heritage locations—affected. Additionally, 415 government offices, 383 security buildings, 3,212 water supply systems, 53 roads, and 299 settlements suffered significant damage.
The Central Implementation Unit (Buildings and Housing), under the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, recently shared its progress on reconstruction.
Out of 835,185 eligible beneficiaries, 834,267 received the first installment of the private housing grant. Among them, 770,775 (92.45%) obtained the second installment, while 743,249 (89.15%) have received the third.
Prakash Aryal, chief of the Central Project Implementation Unit, acknowledged that the government’s Rs 300,000 grant was inadequate for rebuilding a complete home.
Many homeowners, lacking additional resources, were forced to delay or suspend reconstruction. Aryal also pointed to challenges like funding bottlenecks, delays in grant disbursement, and community disputes during heritage restoration as factors contributing to the sluggish pace.
Still, he expressed optimism, saying that 99 percent of the reconstruction work should be finished within the next year.
So far, 253 partially damaged government buildings have been repaired, and 288 model office buildings have been constructed. Twelve major reconstruction projects are still in progress.
In terms of integrated settlement development, 97 projects have been completed, while nine more are underway in various districts.
Of the 1,126 planned health buildings, 336 out of the 544 assigned to the unit by the National Reconstruction Authority have been completed, with the remainder under construction.
According to the unit, 14 percent of tower reconstruction work is also yet to be finalized.
