The Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation (MoFSC) is finally moving ahead with the distribution of timber for rebuilding earthquake-damaged houses in 31 affected districts. 

The Department of Forests (DoF) under the MoFSC has directed all District Forest Offices in 31 districts to submit the details including the number of beneficiary households and quantity of hardwood timber required for distribution as early possible.

The ministry has prepared a timber production, supply and management guidelines for the earthquake-affected households in order to facilitate the distribution to the beneficiaries for rebuilding. Timber distribution process, however, got delayed as the government decided to re-verify the numbers of households in the earthquake-affected districts following reports of fake quake victims.

 Though the government has not directly started distribution of hardwood timber for rebuilding, some distribution of firewood and logs from community and private forestry in the earthquake-affected districts is taking place in different districts. The distribution of timber should be carried out as early as possible, said Resham Dangi, director general at the DoF. 

As per the estimates of the Home Ministry made before the reverification, 602,257 houses were destroyed and 285,099 were damaged by the April 25 earthquake and its aftershocks. The DoF estimates that 51.82 million cubic feet timber will be required to rebuild the damaged homes.

At present the National Reconstruction Authority with the technical support of the Central Bureau of Statistics is carrying out a detailed damage assessment including the numbers of households damaged by 

the earthquake in 14 severely-hit districts.