Earthquake and disaster risk reduction in Nepal

PHASE Nepal has recently completed one of its major project called "Resilient Rehabilitation of trail project" in three earthquake affected villages in Gorkha namely Kashigau, Kerauja and Manbu. These villages are located significantly closed to the epicentre  of the Spring Earthquake 2015 and thus have suffured huge damage of live and properties during the earthquake. After the earthquake , the landslides induced by aftershocks and the following monsoon rainfall completely damaged the walking trails , the only transportation route to these villages causing mules tranportation to halt and day to day commuting extremely difficult and risky.

These reconstruction of these trails have been completed by the PHASE team its two year project  with the construction of  70 km long walking trails,5 pedestrian truss bridges, 8 pedestrian rest areas and installation of 606 meter long rope handholds and handrails to improve user safety levels.

It is very praiseworthy of PHASE team to have completed this challenging project in time. I understand how difficult it is to rebuild trails in these steep rocky terrains, says the Santa Bahadur Gurung,  elected chairperson of the Dharche Rural Municipality (Kashigaun and Keruanja area)

All the construction tasks were done on the basis of output based payment modality utilising local workers generating employment opportunities. Apart from restoring acess to these remote himalayan villages, the project also worked to advocate social equality for example providing the equal payment to both men and women for similar kinds of work.

I worked on this trail project for 50 days and earned 47,000 ruppes (about 360 pounds). I used that money for my children’s education in Lamjung," says Chin Maya Gurung. "We are happy because we received the same wage as men. We were never paid equally before," she adds.