Families of Kanchha Kaji Tamang and Supath Tamang of Mangaltar-2 in the district have been living under tarpaulins for the past four months after their houses were damaged by the April 25 earthquake.

“We are staying here for months. The government has neither provided money to rebuild the damaged house nor allowed us to build it on our own,” Kanchha said.

Though Kanchha and Supath have planned to construct their houses taking some loan, the government has not yet approved the new building code.

Stating that they are not yet sure that the government will provide them Rs 200,000 and Rs 1.5 million as subsidised loan, Supath said authorities concerned should first of all prepare the design of the new house.

Likewise, Man Bahadur Tamang, another quake survivor, said 70 households in Thakle village have been living in temporary huts. “They also spent Rs 15,000 to manage basic necessities,” he said.

Santosh Pokharel, a planning officer at the District Development Office, said they have been waiting for the government policy and programmes regarding reconstruction of quake-hit building. The quake destroyed around 51,000 houses and damaged 23, 000 others in the district.

Acting Chief District Officer Arjun Prasad Sharma said reconstruction works will be carried out by the National Reconstruction Authority. “We don’t have the mandate of reconstruction,” he said, adding that they will move ahead according to the government policy and programmes. Meanwhile, quake victims in Rasuwa district have said that they are not in a mood to celebrate Dashain festival this year. Sangbuti Tamang of Haku-8 in the district said they have nothing left in their house. “By this time last year, we had completed preparations for Dashain,” Sangbuti said.