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SALEM, OREGON, JUN 02 - A cluster of earthquakes ranging in magnitude up to 5.9 have struck off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, but haven't been strong enough to generate tsunami s, scientists said.

The sixth and seventh quakes in the series struck Monday evening. They were the weakest so far, at magnitude 3.9 and 4.2.

The first quake came a few minutes before midnight Sunday, Pacific time, at magnitude 5.8.

It usually takes an earthquake of magnitude 7 or better to trigger a tsunami , said geophysicist Paul Caruso of the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quakes have been shallow — about 6 miles deep. They have been centered in an area about 300 miles west of Coos Bay, Oregon, along what's known as the Blanco Fracture Zone.

"It's a well-known place for earthquakes," said another agency geophysicist, Julie Dutton. "They're frequent throughout the year."

A 2008 agency report said the zone had produced about 70 quakes of magnitude 5 or greater in the previous 28 years, as many as eight in some years.Also in 2008, scientists detected a swarm of hundreds of smaller quakes.

In the Blanco faults, blocks of crust slide horizontally past each other, Dutton said. Faults that feature blocks rising and falling violently in relation to each other are the kind that can generate the energy for tsunami s, she said.

The magnitude 5.9 quake hit shortly after 1 p.m. Monday.

Reports to the geology agency and law enforcement offices suggest that people along the coast barely felt the earthquakes.

In times of great natural disasters, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) becomes the international focal point for disaster relief. It is tasked with collaborating with UN agencies and national governments for relief and recovery. In times of crisis, the head of the UN in that country acts as Resident Humanitarian Coordinator; in Nepal, that person has been Jamie McGoldrick . Darshan Karki spoke to McGoldrick about the UN’s work, its collaboration with the Nepal government, hiccups in meeting the funding gap, and the criticism aimed at foreign agencies, not least the UN system, which many claim undermine Nepal’s national institutions.

Can you explain what exactly the UN is doing in response to the Nepal earthquake?

We are trying to support what the government is doing—both at the central level and more importantly, at the 14 districts prioritised by the government. We are working closely with the Chief District Officers (CDOs) and other officials there to try and respond by giving assistance and recovery support to populations requiring assistance.

How does this coordination with the government actually work?

At the district level, the government has data on the affected population in terms of people whose houses have been destroyed fully and partially, the people who have been killed and injured, and the damage to hospitals and schools. So they’ve got a sense of the key needs. It is our job as the international community, the UN, and its partners, to go to these areas and work through the CDOs to find out how we can address the humanitarian needs, which are shelter, food support, treating injured and traumatised people, water and sanitation issues.

The monsoon is almost here and many places are still in need of food and shelter. What is the UN doing towards that end?

When we first started out, everything came through Kathmandu. Since those early days, a number of things have happened. The borders have opened up and many more trucks have come to Kathmandu and sometimes gone beyond. We have hubs in three places—Charikot, Chautara, and Gorkha—which are also called staging areas.

UNOCHA issued a flash appeal for funds right after the April 25 earthquake but so far, you have only been able to collect 22 percent of what you requested. How will this gap be met?

The flash appeal is only one mechanism for donors and UN member states to respond. Many member states have actually provided materials or resources outside of the appeal.

We need to find a way to track that money and reconcile what the donors and embassies have given and what we have. The issue is some of the key sectors—food, shelter, logistics, health, sanitation—are very underfunded. So we need to alert donors to the fact that it is very important to get money through the appeal before the monsoon.

How exactly do you track this money?

We have a financial tracking system where we ask donors to register international assistance for emergencies. But they have to do it voluntarily. It is very hard sometimes, as people keep forgetting and we have to keep reminding them. That is why the figures are incomplete at this point of time.

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, recently mentioned that appeals for disaster relief funds are never met. What happens when such demands are not met?

We try not to think that this will be the case. More so, if we provide enough evidence and information to donors and member states, both neighbours and the wider international community, that this is a very important need, that there is only a short window and one opportunity to do this is now. Because it is a tourist destination, there is a lot of fondness and affinity for Nepal. At the same time, if we can assure that there is a system in place and there is support of the government to address those needs, we can expect donor funding to increase.

For about a month now, we have been writing critically about the work of our government. How would you evaluate the work of the UN? How effective has the UN response been?

It has been quite a challenge, given the fact that Nepal is a very mountainous country and thousands of people, not because of the earthquake, live in very high, extremely remote areas where even helicopters cannot reach. There are also challenges and restrictions in terms of transport, only one international airport and being a landlocked country wherein goods can only come in by road or air. All of that said, the fact that we have developed a strong partnership with CDOs and at the national level, an amazing amount of work has been done in a month given where we were.

It seems as though the UN is doing everything in coordination with the government. However, there has been much criticism of international agencies for undermining the capacities of our national agencies.

Well, even before this earthquake, we were working with the government on disaster preparedness. At the airport, you have a humanitarian staging area that was built by a donor—the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID)—for the World Food Programme (WFP) which is managing the logistics for the government for this type of eventuality. Also, there are emergency operation centres at the districts which were in full use throughout the quake, responding to the national emergency centre, which gathered the data. The simulation and training exercises and capacity building between American, Nepali, and other militaries and also the mass casualty training that had taken place in the hospitals, all of that showed that the government was very cautious even before the earthquake. It was obviously a massive shock to everyone. But I think we are now in a very strong position.

The UN’s response, especially immediately after the earthquake, has hardly been visible.  

I don’t know if the UN has not been visible. On the second day, in a small area in the compound, we established an operation centre to coordinate with the Army and the Multinational Military Coordination Centre. We established an information centre with the National Emergency Operations Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs. But what was overwhelming was the number of militaries that were here, large-scale assistance from neighbouring countries, and massive military assets. We don’t bring in assets, we bring in technical people and coordination mechanisms which are, for the most part, not visible but essential parts to ensure that there is a link between military and national and district and central level activities.

You speak of bringing in technical people and others to coordinate disaster relief. But a significant part of aid goes to paying such consultants. This much was reported by the BBC in an article where you’ve been quoted. Can you not do something about this, given the position you are in?

As I mentioned to the BBC, I think we should use as many national consultants as we can. However, as governments themselves have told us of their ability and capacity to respond to disaster and their emergency response, there clearly were not as many people as there should have been. I think bringing in international assistance, people who have experience in responding to earthquakes elsewhere helps. You bring in the emergency people very quickly only for the first two or three weeks. After that, those people go, you see the military and the search-and-rescue people leave and so do the technical experts. The normal system comes back into play once again and that is what we have seen here as well.

How difficult is it to coordinate, even with the UN agencies? A few years back, for instance, there were reports of rotten rice being distributed in Dailekh by the WFP? Do you monitor the quality of the goods you distribute?

I don’t think it is necessarily the UN. There are other agencies too and deliveries as well. Goods come in by roads, are offloaded and loaded in trucks, and stored at different places before being taken to a final destination or taken to other places with a different weather. It is normal for damage to take place. And food is a perishable good, it gets damaged easily. But the UN family has many systems in place to ensure that the bulk of what we deliver is correct. When we spot a problem we take corrective action. I haven’t seen this report nor has it been confirmed, but we do all we can to ensure that what we distribute is good. I am sure there will be small problems when you deliver huge amounts of rice.

Lastly, what challenges do you think Nepal will face in recovery?

I think the challenges in recovery will be the same as the challenges in relief. The sparseness of population, the communication, the literacy levels, and the topography of this country will cause difficulties. Even in normal times, we saw the difficulties while getting people to register for voting and while delivering ballot boxes. You think of that now in terms of a relief operation when you are running against the clock and you don’t have the materials and then you fast forward to the recovery phase, which requires transporting much heavier materials, be they cement, rods or corrugated iron sheets. Supplying these through the airports and road system to remote areas is going to be quite a challenge. It will be slow because of the landlocked nature of the country and the size of the problem.

JUN 01 - Baburam Bhattarai, former prime minister, former finance minister, and UCPN (Maoist) ideologue, portends a “paradigm shift” in Nepali politics following the devastating recent earthquakes. The political leadership risks irrelevance if they fail to embody the evolving aspirations of the young and educated. The Great Earthquake could be a watershed in redefining the political landscape, leading to a social churning. Speaking to Akhilesh Upadhyay and Pranaya SJB Rana at his residence, Bhattarai commended the young, educated class for rising to meet its responsibilities, aided by information technology and social media. Drawing on his experiences in government and his professional training as an architect and planner, Bhattarai spoke on a wide range of issues—the rise of a young, capable generation that has eclipsed the political parties in response to the quake, the coming sea-change in Nepali politics, and the country’s long, difficult path to reconstruction.

The political leadership disappeared in the immediate aftermath of the Great Earthquake?

It wouldn’t be right to say that the political leadership had completely disappeared, but perhaps its capacity to deal was found wanting. The earthquake might have been a natural process but it had social, economic, and political consequences. Still, I believe that the political leadership failed to seriously deal with the dimensions of the quake’s consequences. The primary reason for this seems to be that our politics, starting from BP Koirala continuing onto Prachanda and I, has been aimed at dismantling the old political superstructure. But this process has been all but completed. Now, we are entering a phase where we need to build new political and economic institutions. The earthquake has brought the need for the creation of these new structures to the fore. But like I said before, due to a lack of vision or thought, we have failed to address this.

From what we have seen so far, it seems the entire political structure, from the top leadership down to the grassroots, needs a new orientation, a complete overhaul.

Here, it is important to make a distinction between the leadership of the state and the political leadership. Those leading the state have a bigger role to play; we, on the other hand, do not have a direct role. All we in opposition can do is draw attention to issues. That said, cadres and leaders from all political levels should have been involved in the immediate response on a volunteer basis. The very next day of the earthquake, on April 26, I visited many of the affected areas and saw that rather than the political workers, it was local youths and local clubs who had responded immediately. Political organisations were largely unable to respond effectively. Continuing from my earlier comment, our political cadres have been trained to protest and to play vote politics; they know very little about social service and helping the people. So, yes, they do lack this kind of orientation. Another reason is also that there was a lack of facts and figures. Initially, emotional responses can be adequate but to actually rebuild, we need facts to ascertain the dimension of our needs and the resources that we can mobilise.

We live in a seismically active zone and a big earthquake was never a matter of ‘if’; it was always a matter of ‘when’. Yet why were our leaders, including yourself, a former prime minister, so unprepared?

Yes, collectively, we all must be self-critical and personally, I have also expressed my own shame. We all knew that Nepal was vulnerable to a big quake. We had also worked with international organisations to prepare and plan. But what surprised me most was just how inadequate our plans were. We should have at least had a few hundred thousand tarpaulins in store. There was definitely a lack of foresight among leaders.

As a former prime minister, could you shed some light on what state mechanism should have been activated during the crisis of this scale?

Our current system is basically a Westminster system, where the prime minister is chief executive and he is the one ultimately responsible. But our laws, rules, guidelines, and work division do not strengthen the prime minister; most ministries work independently. I experienced this personally when I was prime minister. So I was forced to play a more proactive role where I would personally call in the secretaries and bureaucrats for meetings. But what I mean is that the institution of the prime minister is not very strong. But this also depends on the personality of the prime minister. The current prime minister could perhaps have been more assertive but that did not happen. We also needed a strong central mechanism to respond to disasters. We have one under the Home Ministry but the Nepal Army became crucial in the response and this institution will not respond to commands from the Home Ministry. This contradiction became apparent this time around. The security forces have to respond in times like these as they are trained for crises, but they must be mobilised as an arm of the civilian government, not independently.

This disaster showed the imperatives of devolution of authority and yet, it also displayed the need for a high-powered central body. How do you reconcile this dichotomy?

Establishing a central body for command and control does not mean that all authority will be concentrated in that body; it will only make decision-making more systematic. This central body will coordinate and monitor, with decision-making authority resting with the individual ministries. For the long-term, we need a permanent disaster response structure directly under the chief executive. In the immediate, for reconstruction, or as I like to call it, rejuvenation (“nava-nirmad”), we need a high-powered authority. In the absence of this kind of mechanism, we can see just how ineffective relief distribution has been. We need a National Reconstruction Authority, directly under the prime minister, that answers to the Parliament. It needs a mandated political leadership, along with the presence of various experts.

Speaking of strong central leadership, when you as prime minister aggressively expanded roads in the Capital, were you thinking of a potential disaster?

Yes, definitely. At first, I decided to expand roads because of the extreme traffic congestion and given my background as a planner, also because of the extremely unplanned manner in which Kathmandu was developing. So when I was demolishing buildings that did not abide by the building code or flouted regulations, I faced resistance and criticism from local and civil society leaders. Then, I had told them that a large earthquake is due in Kathmandu and if we don’t do this now, hundreds of thousands could die. I presented them with an equation where you suffer some inconvenience now but in the long term, it will help save lives. I kept in mind the fact that roads are arteries that need to be kept open in times of crisis, and looking back, I think that was the right thing to do.

The widened roads of the Capital no doubt helped during the quake, but what about the major highways and the only international airport? What has been the thinking concerning these vital lifelines?  

I had listed the construction of a second international airport and the Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track as National Pride Projects and was working on getting these built soon. As it would take at least five to six years for their construction, I thought to modernise the existing Tribhuvan International Airport in the meantime. But in the absence of long-term vision, there were only conspiracy theories and an extreme kind of nationalism. There were reports that attempts were being made to completely hand over the airport to foreigners. Furthermore, the process of building the second international airport and Fast Track (linking the capital to Tarai) took longer than expected, despite my attempts to prioritise them.

Coming back to reconstruction in the aftermath of the quake, you stressed ‘nava-nirmad’ (rejuvenation) over reconstruction. What exactly does this entail?

All the buildings that have been destroyed will need to be built back up, but that should be done according to a plan. We need to conduct geological surveys and come up with a land use plan and zoning. Then, we need to come up with a settlement and infrastructure plan. Rural settlements that are scattered all over are not practical so they must be clustered. Urban settlements must also be planned, including building houses according to a new, updated building code. This code must be strictly enforced. This is all part of reconstruction. My ‘nava nirmad’ concerns buildings and areas that were not affected by the quake. Let’s not forget that we are still at risk of earthquakes. All buildings have a lifespan and old buildings that are fragile must be destroyed. New buildings must be erected in their place, along with infrastructure that takes earthquakes and natural disasters into account.

We seem to be headed down a path to urbanisation, with VDCs being upgraded to municipalities, under the understanding that big cities equal development. Do you think we need a change in perspective?

Yes, exactly. We need to plan everything now. Mountains, hills, and Tarai all need specific regional plans for development. Building codes must also be expanded to the villages. So perhaps we need a temporary moratorium on the construction of permanent buildings while we come up with a plan and building codes. The reconstruction authority that we were talking about earlier will need to do this.

You speak of planning, but what kind planning will this be? At a time when debates are churning on federalism and devolution of power, where would a central planning body fit in?

This crisis showed the necessity of federalism. We are all committed to federalism and the devolution of power; our only disagreement is in the form of federalism. But settlements across Nepal are varied. While the high mountains might have cluster settlements, they are very scattered in the hills. These settlements also have their own geological and cultural history. So a central body can come with a general plan that takes into account local cultural sentiments and the history of the settlements. But the implementation of this plan must rest with local bodies.

Across Nepal, people have their own reasons for settling in various places, no matter how dangerous such places could be. In a democratic society, how difficult it is to move people and how best do you handle these immigration patterns?

Settlements have always been linked to employment. In Nepal, people live in such dangerous areas because the country’s economy was largely based on subsistence farming. But now, we are heading towards an industrial and service economy and even farming is becoming commercialised. Nature has actually given us a push to move from feudal subsistence agriculture to an industry-oriented age, or in Marxist terms, from feudalism to capitalism. So we cannot afford scattered settlements, especially as now, there is a need to provide services to all of them.

Let’s come back to the response to the earthquake and what it means to our national life. In the aftermath of the quake, we saw thousands of young people, an apolitical class, taking immediate responsibility, answering the call for national duty. Could this be a turning point for our nation’s history?

Yes, it could. We are seeing a young, educated class that is quick to take action and the proliferation of information technology that is making communication much easier. The internet and social media have made things easier, with the coordination of relief to many areas and in some cases, even saving lives. But I would especially like to commend the young, educated class which seems to have risen to meet its social responsibilities. Our political cadres used to come forward for protests and demonstrations, but this new unaffiliated class of young people seems to be more conscious about social issues. It is important that the political leadership understands this evolving phenomenon. If we are unable to tap this new force, its concerns, and aspirations, we might not be able to lead in the future.

You seem to imply that if the political leadership is not able to tap the educated youth, parties risk being irrelevant. Conversely, if the parties are able to internalise the new social churning, they will become much more vibrant institutions plugged to the public opinion. Which of these two scenarios do you see happening?

This earthquake is a paradigm shift for Nepali politics, which I consider an opportunity. Politics itself will need to be redefined. We will need to focus more on development, economic issues and cultural issues. The political leadership will also need to reinvent itself. Those who are able to reinvent themselves will come forward and those who cannot will be left behind. We need to rise above our old party-centric orientation. The coming years look to herald the rise of a new political force. Either the existing parties will transform themselves into a new force or in a churning of these parties, a new force will arise.

As a people, we have long been deeply fatalistic. Do you see a change in this mindset, where the younger generation especially seems to believe that it can master its own fate?

Yes, I do. This has much to do with the flow of information. Knowledge has led people from fatalism to materialism. And now the quake has destroyed much of the old structures and infused a new understanding. Mankind has always progressed and advanced by confronting nature and adapting to it. It is a kind of social evolution where we learn to survive. So we must see this moment as an opportunity to discard the fatalism of old and move ahead.

So what do the parties need to do to discard fatalism in the days ahead?

Knowledge was already transforming the minds of our young people but the nudge that the quake gave us should be seen as an opportunity to change the culture and psyches of our political parties. We need to start with a transformation in mindset and orientation. This is where need to begin. Our political leadership needs to be visionary and seize this opportunity. Then, we can move to a national unity government.

Where exactly are we with this national unity government?

A unity government needs to be seen as an objective necessity, not just as a subjective choice. Now, the earthquake has added to the political transition and increased awareness about the necessity of unity. But we need a conscious effort towards this end and that effort has been started by the political leadership. My understanding is that it will take concrete shape within the coming weeks.

The Nepali Congress wants to transform the existing government into a unity government while the CPN-UML and your party seems to be in favour of a complete change in leadership.

First, all parties need to be on the same page. Only that can be considered a national unity government. Second is the question of leadership. I do not think that performance of the current government will justify continuing with it. Even before the quake, its performance has been very lacklustre. Given the scale of the problem before us, I do not think the current leadership will be able to tackle it. The best thing would be for the prime minister to respectfully step aside. A national unity government means a government consisting of all the political forces and a new leadership.

Would you be open to someone else from within the Nepali Congress replacing Sushil Koirala as prime minister?

Yes, we have to be open to this. But we cannot just look at it as a party’s leadership. We need someone with the capacity to tackle the challenges before us. There are many others issues here too, including the numbers game. Right now, there is also talk of the UML leading government as the second-largest party. We are open to that too. But first, there must be an agreement between the NC and UML on leadership.

We hear that you have expressed interest in leading the proposed Reconstruction Authority, given there’s agreement from all parties.

Yes, I have. My background and interest is in architecture and planning. I have experience as a prime minister and a finance minister. I also wish to work in development politics. But it is not just about my interest; there needs to be agreement from everyone else too.

How long until this authority and a national unity government are formed? Can you offer us timelines?

We need to see this as an emergency. We need about 800,000 temporary shelters before the monsoon arrives, and the thousands of buildings that have been demolished will need to be rebuilt. Economic losses are estimated to be around Rs 1 trillion. So things need to progress on a war footing. Not a single day can be wasted. We need to form a unity government within a week. A reconstruction law must be passed through a Presidential ordinance and a reconstruction authority formed immediately.

Many assert that relief operations would’ve been much more effective had there been local representation. So there have been demands to hold local elections at the earliest.

The national unity government will have three tasks. First, the constitution process must continue.

An agreement should be sought on the content of the constitution and if that is not possible, then at least an agreement on a timeframe. Second, reconstruction will require agreement among the parties. And third, we need to hold elections to local bodies. But this is not possible without a constitution. First a constitution and then local elections.

KATHMANDU, JUN 03 - Summer crop production has not been good but bumper harvests of winter crops are expected to shore up the overall food output this year, the Ministry of Agricultural Development said on Tuesday.

The country’s overall cereal crop output is expected to drop 3 percent this year, a sharp drop from the projected figure.

A report released by the ministry showed that wheat production was expected to grow 5 percent to 1.97 million tonnes. Likewise, barley production is expected to increase 7 percent to 37,354 tonnes.

The ministry’s spokesperson Uday Chandra Thakur cited sufficient rainfall and snowfall for the expected rise in output. However, the April 25 earthquake has affected the productivity of wheat.

According to Thakur, the earthquake has affected winter crops and production is down 8 percent. The area under winter crop production dropped 7.6 percent, mainly in the 14 districts that have been hit the hardest by the tremors.

Paddy and maize output were largely affected this fiscal year due to a late monsoon and untimely rain. Paddy output dropped 5.1 percent to 4.78 million tonnes. The country produced 258,435 tonnes less paddy this fiscal year, compared to last year. Likewise, maize production dropped 6 percent to 2.14 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, millet production grew 1.5 percent to 308,000 tonnes and buckwheat output increased 5 percent from last year’s 10,870 tonnes. The land under maize production declined 5 percent to 46,000 hectares, the ministry said.

Likewise, flower, honey and mushroom output has been projected to be encouraging this year. “Youth targeted programmes have mainly contributed to the significant growth in the production of these farm products,” said Thakur.

The ministry has projected good growth in the production of cash crops like oil seeds, potato, sugarcane, jute, pulses, tea, fruits and vegetables and spices like garlic, chilli, cardamom, ginger and turmeric. However, tobacco production and the cultivated area are expected to drop this year.

Milk production is estimated to increase 1.5 percent this fiscal year. “It is due to an increase in productivity of milk cows,” said Thakur.

Meat production, however, is expected to fall. The earthquake has severely hit livestock and it could affect the country’s meat supply.

The ministry has estimated that 18,000 cattle and 500,000 birds perished in the earthquake. Similarly, 40,000 small quadrupeds including goat, sheep and pigs were killed in the disaster. Livestock losses are estimated to amount to Rs1.47 billion.

Cereal crops production

Crops    2013-14    2014-15    Change

    (In tonnes)    (In tonnes)    (in%)

Paddy    5.04 million    4.78 million     -5.1

Maize    2.28 million    2.14 million     -6.0

Wheat    1.88 million    1.97 million     4.9

Millet    304,105    308,488     1.4

Barley    34,824    37,354     7.3

Buckwheat    10,335     10,870 MT    5.2

Total    9.56 million     9.26 million     -3.1

(Source: Agricultural Ministry)injuring four)

GORKHA, JUN 03 - Prices of zinc roofing sheets have not only risen sharply, they are in short supply, compounding the hardships of people made homeless by the earthquake as the monsoon is fast approaching. Crowds of earthquake victims can be seen daily scouring the market for roofing sheets to make temporary houses as they are worried with the rainy season about to start. However, they have to return empty-handed as there is a shortage of zinc sheets in the district headquarters and surrounding markets, said traders. Prices of zinc sheets have jumped Rs750 per bundle. Bishnu Gurung, a resident of Ghairung, searched the whole day for zinc sheets but without success. “I visited almost 10 hardware shops on Monday, but not a single zinc sheet was available in the market,” he said. The District Natural Disaster Rescue and Relief Committee has started distributing Rs15,000 to each quake-affected family to build temporary shelters. However, people are unable to get zinc sheets. Saroj Pokhrel, who operates a Hulas Steels depot in the district, said that more than 50 people had been coming daily to buy zinc sheets after the government started providing relief funds. “As we have run out of zinc sheets, we have been forced to pull down the shutters.” There are two depots of Hulas Steels at the district headquarters. Meanwhile people have been going to other areas in search of roofing sheets. “As I did not get zinc sheets in Gorkha , I went to Khaireni,” said Laxmi Kumal, a local of Chhopra in Gorkha . “But I had to return empty-handed from there too.” Another local, Kul Bahadur Baram, spent 10 days trying to buy a bundle of zinc sheets. The money the government has issued as relief is not sufficient to build a house, he said. Similarly, Pur Bahadur Shrestha of Fujel has been to a number of surrounding districts to buy zinc sheets but had no luck. Rajesh and Aarati Stores, the authorized dealers of zinc sheets in Abu Khaireni, said not a single zinc sheet was available at their depots. Krishna Gandrang, the proprietor of Rajesh Ko Dealer in Abu Khaireni, said he had closed his shop as he had run out of stock. “Large crowds have been coming looking for zinc sheets,” he said, adding that more than 100 customers were arriving daily. Similarly, Ishwor Kaji Maskey, the proprietor of a Hulas Steels depot, said demand for zinc sheets had swelled to 10,000 bundles, but the company had been sending only 350 bundles weekly. He added that each organization had been asking for 300 bundles. Sources said that manufacturers of zinc sheets had started dispatching their products to earthquake affected districts on a rotating basis. Prices have gone up by Rs220-750 per bundle after the earthquake. Before the disaster, prices had dropped by Rs120 per bundle. Hulas Steels was the first to jack up prices and other manufacturers followed soon after. Tika Dutta Dhakal, a farmer of Harmi, said he had planned to resume work on his farm after constructing a temporary house, but he had been forced to make frequent visits to the market in search of zinc sheets. Around 58,000 houses were destroyed by the earthquake. Since at least two bundles of zinc sheets are required for each house, the district needs 116,000 bundles. Around 3,000 households have received Rs15,000 each from the government as immediate relief to build shelters.

KATHMANDU, JUN 03 - Nepal’s private sector suffered losses amounting to an estimated Rs100 billion due to the April 25 Great Earthquake, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) said. The overall damage caused by the massive tremor has been estimated at Rs500-1,000 billion, which is 25-50 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Speaking at an interaction entitled Revising Nepal’s Economy: Role of Private Sector, FNCCI Officiating President Pashupati Murarka said the government should not introduce new taxes in the coming budget when the private sector had been so badly battered by the earthquake. A High-Level Tax System Review Commission has urged the government to impose a “reconstruction tax” to raise money to rebuild the country after the devastating earthquake. Murarka asked the government to involve the private sector in the rebuilding process by creating an environment where it could contribute greatly to the effort. Likewise, senior vice-president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) Hari Bhakta Sharma urged the government to increase the cash flow in the economy, boost liquidity in the market by buying bonds instead of selling them and increase consumption by slashing value added tax (VAT) to 10 percent from the current 13 percent for the next two-three years. He also recommended cutting income tax although Nepal’s tax rate is considered to be among the lowest in the world. The country’s income tax is 25 percent for the corporate sector and 30 percent for the banking sector. He also stressed the need to involve the private sector in the reconstruction process. “The government needs to name a number of organisations as partner organisations which can lead the reconstruction effort since it is not capable of handling the entire reconstruction programme on its own,” he said. He added that the focus sectors needed to be identified in order to mobilize the private sector. Likewise, Kamlesh Agrawal, secretary general at the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, said that, judging from the current situation, imports would increase, exports would go down and revenue collection too would drop as a result of the quake. “This has, therefore, caused a great economic loss to the nation,” Agrawal said. Meanwhile, the prospects are brighter for the banking sector despite sustaining significant losses as the flow of remittance, which is a major source of income for banks, has not changed, said Anil Shah, vice-president of the Nepal Bankers’ Association. In fact, remittance inflow has surged following the quake, according to Nepal Rastra Bank. Shah stressed the need to form an economic revival committee including members from the government, central bank and private sector in order to promote coordination among different stakeholders in terms of decision making. “An example of coordination failure is provided by the central bank’s announcement to provide housing loans at 2 percent interest when the government has said that building permits will not be issued to houses over two stories,” Shah said. Private sector bodies said that the quake had damaged factory buildings and machinery in many places. According to the Asian Development Bank, the 14 quake-affected districts account for 20 percent of the country’s total manufacturing establishments. Similarly, nearly a quarter of the total hydropower produced in the country has been hit by the earthquake. The drastic slowdown in capital spending and building activities following the earthquake will hit construction. “The cumulative impact of these sub-sectoral developments means that we now see industrial growth at 2.3 percent lower than the 3.5 percent level forecast in March,” said the ADB. There has been a sharp fall in wholesale and retail trade in the severely affected districts. Tourism has dropped sharply due to the earthquake, landslides and avalanches, resulting in booking cancellations and changed travel plans. These factors are also expected to hit the service industry this year.

KATHMANDU, JUN 01 - The national cricket team on Sunday set forth for an ambitious journey of making their second consecutive appearance in the ICC World Twenty20 beginning with a 15-day preparation tour of India. The Nepali team’s tour of India comes courtesy the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which is facilitating the contingent with the facilities at the HPCA Cricket Stadium in Dharmashala. The team’s expense will be borne by the BCCI which had committed to help Nepal for the preparation of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers, to be held in Ireland and Scotland from July 9-27, after their facilities at the hometown were destroyed by the April 25 Great Quake. As the whole country is battling to recover from the massive earthquake that has left Nepal devastated killing more than 8500 and causing a widespread destruction, the cricketers would look to give their every bit in healing the wounds by securing a place in the World Twenty20. Coach Pubudu Dassanayake believes a spot in the World Twenty20 will mean a lot to Nepal at such hard times and his side will do everything to achieve it. “We made history by making a maiden appearance in the World Twenty20 last year but reaching thereagain will have a greater significance this time,” Dassanayake told The Kathmandu Post. “We have seen the devastation caused by the earthquake and how people are trying to get back to their feet. The country has been in a state of mourning and qualifying for the World Twenty20 is the best thing we could do for the entire nation,” added the coach. The massive 7.8M tremor on April 25 and another big 7.3M aftershock on May 12, however, has already played its part to affect Nepal’s preparation. Unlike the preparations made for the previous Qualifiers, Nepal have very short time (just over one month) to fine-tune themselves for the big event. However, Dassanayake is confident his squad will be able to win the race against time. Apart from undergoing rigorous training at the HPCA, Nepal will also play at least two matches against the local teams before returning to Nepal to prepare for a trip to England. “We are scheduled to play three matches in England against some of the tough clubs there and also have three Twenty20 matches against Netherlands in their home ground. Another two warm-up games before the Qualifiers will see us playing at least 10 games. We shall have no problem regarding our preparation,” said Dassanayake. Nepal will return from India on June 20 and head to England three days later for their second phase of preparation which will be followed by a trip to the Netherlands that will see them play three Twenty20 matches.