Earthquake-hit Nepal formally begins reconstruction

Nepal on Saturday formally commenced the reconstruction process nearly nine months after the massive earthquake on April 25 last year.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli inaugurated the much-delayed reconstruction in separate functions held in the Nepalese Capital Kathmandu on Saturday.

Government officials said that they will reconstruct about 1 million homes and buildings damaged by the massive earthquake and will also start collecting billions of aid pledged by the foreign donors during the International Conference on Nepal's Reconstruction held on June 8.

Foreign donor agencies and countries have pledged 4.1 billion U.S. dollars in aid to help Nepal rebuild after the earthquake.

The government will be mobilizing 16,00 engineers to villages in earthquake-ravaged 40 districts to take detailed damage surveys, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) officials told Xinhua.

"Those 16,00 engineers will train technicians to build safer houses, coordinate between the government offices," Chief of the NRA Sushil Gyawali told media.

The earthquake and ensuing aftershocks had claimed nearly 9,000 lives leaving another 22,000 injured in April last year in the Himalayan nation. Similarly, a million houses and buildings were damaged during the earthquake.

Earlier last month, Nepal's Parliament approved a new act of the National Reconstruction Authority which allowed the government to spend billions of dollars pledged by foreign donors on reconstruction.

The authority is entrusted to handle the rebuilding of collapsed houses, office buildings, schools, hospitals and roads, and will be empowered to bypass spending rules to get the work done quickly.

Local media reports suggest that hundreds of thousands of people are still homeless in the harsh winter weather in Nepal's remote villages hit by the earthquake. Endit