CBS collects data of only 160,000 quake-hit families

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has collected details of loss incurred to more than 160,000 households in the districts affected by the earthquakes in April and May last year so far.

The CBS started Earthquake Stricken Settlement Reconstruction Data Collection program on January 25.

“The survey is undergoing in 11 of the 14 severely quake-hit districts. The data collection in Dolakha is about to be concluded,” informed Dr. Rudra Suwal, deputy director general of CBS.

The data collection program was kicked off from Dolakha.

About 500,000 houses were completely damaged and more than 250,000 houses were partially damaged by the tremors in April and May last year rendering approximately 8 million people homeless in the immediate aftermath of the quake.

According to the earlier estimates of Ministry of Home Affairs, the tremors affected almost 11 per cent houses in 30 districts.

As per the Post Disaster Need Assessment of the government there were more than 8,790 casualties and 22,300 injuries.

As the number of houses affected by the quake continuously inflated, by more than 50 per cent in some of the districts, the government initiated fresh data collection program in collaboration with the World Bank (WB) and other organizations.

Dr. Suwal informed that 1,400 engineers, enabled with tablet, were mobilized in the field and they were submitting more than 6,000 records every day.

This is the first paperless survey in Nepal where the data input by the surveyors is directly recorded in the server of the CBS.

“Except some of the villages in the mountains, survey of all the severely-hit districts will be completed by mid-April this year. Although we are trying to finish it at the earliest, problems in network has been affecting the data transfer,” said Dr. Suwal.

National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) spokesperson Suresh Adhikari said that the delay in data collection would not affect the reconstruction of the quake-damaged building.

“Data of about 144,000 household has been processed and verified. The reconstruction will be carried out in those areas at the earliest,” he said.

He informed that by mid-April house reconstruction work would be launched in all the quake-affected districts.

“If there are any problems in creating bank accounts, the Resource Centre, the lowermost unit of the NRA, will facilitate the people in that process,” said Adhikari.