Still waitingLIFE should be busier for Ganeshman Shakya, a mason in Bungamati, a village in the Kathmandu valley. A year ago this week a 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed nearly 9,000 people and left millions of Nepalese, including his family, in need of new homes. But Mr Shakya, sitting idly on the front step of a corrugated-iron hut on the village’s outskirts, says that beyond patching up a few damaged buildings, there has been little new construction to keep him occupied. He had hoped to build a new place for his family within months of the quake. A patch of freshly-planted vegetables in front of the hut suggests he is betting it will be a longer haul.
Frustration is mounting in Nepal. Much of the $4.1 billion pledged by international donors in the earthquake’s aftermath has yet to be spent. Politicians, many belonging to parties wedded (at least in theory) to various shades of Maoism, Leninism or Marxism, have hampered rather than helped. So has a chaotic bureaucracy. The Red Cross says 4m people remain in temporary shelter (as pictured).
Some of this is the result of corruption; a lot is simply cock-ups....Continue reading
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