by TIKA PRASAD BHATTA, RAMECHHAP
Majhi village of Rajgaun in Ramechhap district, which was ravaged by the earthquakes in 2015, has finally been reconstructed. But it has been rebuilt without adhering to safety measures post the earthquake: the houses are still built closely together, with no exit routes for people to use in case of emergencies.
The Majhi community is a small cluster of around 35 families, who live along the Tamakoshi River, in Rajgaun.
Mangali Majhi, a native of Rajgaun, said the settlement has been reconstructed the same way it was before because the locals could not reshape the land plots. “If we could have been able to properly reshape the plots, we would have a planned settlement as opposed to the one we rebuilt. However, we didn’t have anyone to show us how to do it,” said Mangali.
Ram Kumar Shrestha, a technician deployed for the reconstruction, said that before technicians could even show models of integrated settlements to the locals at Rajgaun, locals had already started laying the foundation for their houses.
This is not the first time the village has been rebuilt in a way that has done more harm than good. Thirty years ago too, the settlement had been destroyed by a quake. Then too, villagers had constructed the village without taking the people’s safety into account.
Some families in Majhi lament that some of them have had to construct three houses, all in one generation. “We spent our entire lives constructing houses,” said Kale, adding that the most of the families are debt-stricken because they are constructing houses by taking massive loans.
But it is not only Rajgaun that is carrying out reconstruction works without maintaining safety measures. Bir Bahadur Majhi, a native of Bhatauli, said that the situation is similar in his village. The engineers deployed in the area for the reconstruction of the private housing sector did not raise enough awareness in earthquake prone areas, he says. The Bhatauli settlement, in Thedikhola, has also been reconstructed like Rajgaun.