Hundreds of flood-affected people are still living in temporary shelters at Girighat, Tikhakuna, Chhinchu and Birendranagar in Surkhet for the last two and a half years.

They were displaced by the flood that struck 34 VDCs and parts of Birendra Municipality in August 2014. At least 115 people were killed and 1,465 families were displaced in the disaster.

Flood victim Jit Bahadur Sunar said at least 200 displaced families have migrated elsewhere, some of them to India, because they could no longer wait for the government to come to their aid.

“Currently, there are 416 families living in camps. The government has neglected them so far. We have been waiting for resettlement after the disaster. However, the concerned authorities have not paid attention to our situation,” Sunar said.

Following the flood, the then government had announced to provide Rs 50,000 each to the displaced families for buying land and another Rs 75,000 for building homes. Barely half of the displaced families have received the aid from the District Administration Office (DAO) over the years.

“Many of us have not received the aid pledged by the government, and those who did could not resettle. The amount was insufficient,” said another flood victim Lalit Bahadur Shahi.

Hit Prasad Paudel, administrative officer at the DAO, said the office could not distribute aid to all the flood displaced because the government did not send enough budget.

“The government never sent the full budget to take care of all flood victims in the district,” he said.