MULTIPLE FLAWS SEEN IN DATA OF QUAKE VICTIMS

By RUDRA PANGENI 

@rudrapangeni

KATHMANDU, June 5: The government has announced to distribute cash assistance to families, who lost their homes in the earthquake, based on identification cards issued to earthquake victims. It has already collected data from such households. But officials say the process to distribute cash assistance could be affected due to flaws on data of earthquake victims.

Enumerators deployed by government have already created the database of people who lost their homes in the earthquake. But officials say they have not visited affected area after the powerful aftershock of May 12. One enumerator, who was deployed in Dhading, told Republica that he completed data collection before May 12. I haven't visited affected areas after the aftershock of May 12, he said, preferring anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to media.

The government had mobilized a team under the leadership of section officer in each 499 badly-affected village development committees (VDCs). The teams also included at least one engineer.

"Data of earthquake victims is very important as the government is distributing identification cards to earthquake victims based on the data"" Govinda Nepal, member of National Planning Commission (NPC), said.

Cases of over-reporting of damages are also increasing, according to officials. Quake-hit people have been found influencing enumerators to over-report their damages expecting more assistance from the government.

The government has announced to distribute Rs 200,000 to the people who lost their houses in the earthquake. The amount includes Rs 15,000 to be distributed to each affected family for building a temporary shelter.

Interestingly, officials of neither NPC nor Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) -- the central agency for collection, consolidation, processing, analysis, publication and dissemination of statistics -- have any idea about the content of forms that enumerators filled by visiting quake-hit areas.

Bikash Bista, director general of CBS, said they have only been asked to enter data from the forms collected by the enumerators in the central database. "We could have made more scientific forms and also carried out pretest to make data more valid"" Bista said, adding that the forms seem to have been filled up by non-professionals. "We, however, have tried to make the data more reliable as far as possible though cross verification."

NPC is also working on Post Disaster Need Assessment (PDNA), which is also based on the same data, to present to donor agencies for soliciting their assistance for reconstruction and rehabilitation. A highly placed official of NPC said the data collection process was started in haste and that NPC does not know who prepared the questionnaires used in the forms. ""There was no coordination among line agencies"" the official added, requesting anonymity.

According to officials, local leaders of different political parties tried to influence enumerators to over-report damages, expecting more assistance from the government.

After monitoring relief distribution in affected districts, lawmakers held discussion on Special Committee for Disaster Management, Monitoring and Direction of legislature-parliament last week on ways to control duplication of data of affected households. Speaking at the meeting, Iswari Neupane, a lawmaker of NC, had suggested to the government to introduce a provision that would disqualify a person from receiving assistance if s/he was found over-reporting damages. Stating that Rs 15,000 was insufficient to build temporary shelter, he had drawn the attention of the committee to direct the government to release Rs 50,000 in the first installment.

Many statisticians and experts fear misuse and manipulation of data. Bista said such distribution can be effective only if the government has reliable and evidence-based data with accuracy.

Uttam Narayan Malla, former director general of CBS, said the data of quake-hit families would be very important for relief and rehabilitation works. "There are reports of people putting pressure on enumerators to list their houses with 'minor damages' as 'badly damaged'," said Malla, adding that the data should be cross-verified. "The severity of damage should be categorized with clearer definition."

Many also worry the assessment of economic loss because of earthquake will also be bloated in the absence of authentic data from the affected districts. They stressed the need to collect reliable data for reconstruction and rebuilding of public infrastructures as over-reporting and duplication of data also might fuel corruption.

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Farmers' Woes

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Farmers are among those most affected by earthquakes. Their livelihood has been shattered in many cases. Landslides triggered by the earthquakes damaged their homes and buried the farming fields, besides killing their cattle and livestock. The temblor forced many farmers to abandon their villages. Some have come to Kathmandu and are staying in temporary shelters. But providing them homes alone won't suffice; their livelihood should also be restored.

Stored paddy seeds are buried in the rubble and there are only two weeks to prepare seed-beds ahead of the monsoon but farmers are yet to get seeds.

A total of 16,371 large animals (water buffalos, cows, oxen) are estimated to have died in recent earthquakes. With the loss of milk-giving cows and buffalos farmers have lost their major source of income. Likewise, 36,710 small animals like goats, pigs and sheep were killed while 451,688 fowls perished. All these figures have been taken from preliminary reports. Immediate recovery of farmers' lives is also important for the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It is high time to provide relief to farmers but we also need a sustainable way to bring them into normal farming activities.

Post-disaster need assessment has already started. The government is drawing a blueprint for reconstruction of houses and settlements. There is a clamor for physical infrastructure like private houses, public and historical structures among ministers and planners but restoring farmers' livelihood gets little mention.

The government should provide farmers with milking cows and buffalos so that their livelihood is ensured; they should also be given seeds and other essential agricultural inputs. Some fear abundance of relief materials may make them lazy and they won't go to their fields again. We saw this after the Karnali food distribution after which people became completely dependent on doles.

Commonly, village youths are migrant workers. Women and elderly are taking care of cattle. Subsistence farming is a push factor behind youths going abroad for menial work, a craze also fuelled by easy foreign jobs without looking into income opportunities at home.

This is an opportunity to revive agriculture as well as boost agricultural production so that it will also reduce ballooning size of agro-product import. We import agro-products that the country can produce for itself. Every year agro products worth Rs 100 billion are imported while the trucks bringing in those imports return empty. Immediate start of reconstruction will not only create jobs for those outgoing youths but also create new demand in the market.

Self-employment in agriculture and also subsidy in agricultural inputs in addition to building value chains can encourage youths to engage in agriculture commercially, something already seen in many places, though sporadically. This is the right time to give this process added momentum.

Agriculture contributes 40 percent of GDP but its share is shrinking and contribution of manufacturing sector, which could have created more jobs, has also seen a decline by about 10 percent over a decade.

Many farmers frequent Kathmandu for short-term construction jobs. Starting construction work at the earliest in their districts and valleys will also help those farmers to earn and support their families.

There are discussions about relocation of families, particularly farmers, from quake-affected rural areas. But such plans of relocation to Tarai districts are neglected aspects of farmers' livelihood challenge. Physical facilities in relocated areas may be good but taking farmers away from their natural farming environment and their source of income (cattle and fields) can be counterproductive. Scattered houses can be consolidated in a well-managed settlement. However, settlements should not be far from original farmlands and grazing areas for cows and buffalos.

The author is with Republica's business bureau
Twitter: @rudrapangeni

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