Post-Disaster Management Practices in Nepal: A Case Study of Barekot Rural Municipality, Jajatkot

Abstract

I conducted a research study entitled Post-Diaster Management Practices in Nepal: A Case Study of Barekot Rural Municipaity, Jajarkot to uncover the various aspects of Jajarkot earthquake 2023. As post-disaster management is an important aspect of development, the earthquake and its reconstruction period provided a suitable research scenario. A mixed approach was employed for the study. Kei Informants Interview KII was conducted for qualitative data collection and Household Survey was conducted for quantitative data collection. Among the 5586 affected households in 9 wards of Barekot RM, I took 234 households from 3 wards as the research sample. The study found that temporary shelter has been constructed in 96.2 percent households in Barekot. Out only 24.8 percent received the second installment of Nrs. 25,000 for temporary shelter. None receives any amount for the permanent reconstruction. 99 percent temporary shelters have been completely constructed. Social life in Barekot has mostly returned to normal. While only 0.9 percent people have restored to their financial life after earthquake. The government side had taken impactful initiatives initially as 80,000 shelters have been made and Nrs. 3.5 billion is distributed to the affected ones. Non-governmental side are seen planned and structured in relief and recovery actions and are now focusing on livelihood activities. The private sector and political parties worked effectively in distributing relief materials and volunteer mobilization. A significant gap is seen between the service delivery and people’s expectation on various aspects of disaster management. Preparedness and responses were felt efficient by the people while recovery, mitigation and preparedness services delivered by the supplier’s side were rated worst. In the satisfaction scale, the response services were rated satisfactory by majority of the households, while recovery and prevention services also couldn’t win favor of the people. The study comes to the conclusion that immediate needs of the people are more focused, neglecting long-term needs in the process. In this one-year period, only temporary shelters and emergency services has been constructed. The government and stakeholders should focus on far-sighted visions. Need based interventions should be initiated to empower the people and to develop community resilience to cope with the possible future disasters.