At least 22 earthquake survivors have died in Nepal and thousands other have fallen sick in various districts of the Himalayan nation due to the harsh winter chill.
Quake survivors have blamed the government for not providing adequate food, medicine, permanent shelter and
immediate relief.
Reports from several quake-hit districts show that at least 13 people have died in Dolakha district alone, according to the district police office.
Hundreds of quake survivors are forced to live in thin tents in this chilly winter in minimum facilities in the hilly region of the country that has witnessed severe cold in the last one month.
At least five earthquake survivors succumbed to chilling cold in various villages of Dolakha district this week and with eight such cases reported just a few days ago, the number of people who have succumbed to cold at temporary post-quake camps has reached 13.
Police said these people have succumbed to cold while living under unsecured tents after their houses collapsed in the deadly quakes in April this year.
Confirming the death of elderly quake survivors, police officer Bel Bahadur Pandey, said it was yet to be verified if all of them died of cold.
District health official Madhav Lamsal said there might have been other causes including asthma and kidney problems behind the death cases. “Many of them were suffering from chronic diseases,” he added.
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake rattled central and western regions of Nepal on April 25 this year killing nearly 9,000 people and injuring more than 23,000. Hundreds of thousands of people were rendered homeless with entire villages flattened across many districts of the country.
Meanwhile, the Nepal government has tabled the article of agreement of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in parliament to legally become the founding member of the China-initiated bank.
The bank which was formally established on December 25 has been considered as a milestone in the reform of the global economic governance system as well as in the infrastructure development in the Asia-Pacific region, A Xinhua report says.
Nepalese Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel tabled the document in the house to get
approval of the parliament.
Nepal has got 809 shares in the bank whose initial paid up capital is $50bn while authorised capital is $100bn. According to Nepal’s finance ministry, Nepal has to contribute $16.1mn in the bank’s paid up capital in 10 instalments.
Nepal government officials and experts said that the bank has opened a new avenue for Nepal to get funding for its
infrastructure needs.
A World Bank report entitled “Reducing Poverty by Closing South Asia’s Infrastructure Gap” published in 2014, has stated that Nepal has to invest 8.24% to 11.75% of its gross domestic product (GDP) in infrastructure to bridge investment gap in
infrastructure.
Currently, Nepal’s investment in the sector stands at just 5% of the GDP. The report said Nepal falls short of $13-18bn in order to bridge the investment gap in infrastructure between 2011
and 2020.
Nepalese economist Dr Shankar Sharma said that the AIIB gives an extra window for Nepal to get financing to improve its poor infrastructure.
“Multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have limitations to finance the needs of Nepal’s infrastructure sector and having additional window of financing is good for the country,” said Sharma.
He stressed that Nepal should enhance its absorptive capacity of pledged financing which has remained poor.
The AIIB has aimed to start lending from mid-2016. “Nepal will be in position to get financing from AIIB at the earliest if we prepare the necessary project proposals at the earliest,” said Madhu Marasini, chief of international economic co-operation co-ordination division at the
finance ministry.

Related Story