A Closer Look at The Distribution of PM Disaster Relief Funds

By Puru Shah

On May 4, 2015, the Nepalese government released a total of Rs. 1.35 billion from the Prime Minister Disaster Relief Fund for the earthquake victims in 47 districts of Nepal.

This post takes a closer look at the distribution of relief funds in the 15 most earthquake affected districts of Nepal. In particular, it will analyze whether or not the distribution of relief funds was proportionate based on the number of deaths, injured individuals and damaged homes as reported by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

It is suggested that you refer to our previous post "A Visual Guide to The Earthquake Impact in Nepal" for the number of deaths and injured in the 15 most earthquake affected districts of Nepal. Similarly, refer to our previous post "Nepali Govt Releases Funding for Immediate Relief" for the relief aid amounts provided by the government.

Compensation For Deceased and Damaged Homes (Minor)

The two facts that will be important to recall, from our previous posts are that the Nepalese government had previously announced cash relief of:

• Rs. 140,000 each for the families of the deceased, and 
• Rs. 25,000 each for families who are able to reconstruct their house with minor repairs.

Based on these above promised cash relief amounts, verified number of deaths, injured individuals and homes with minor damages, this post will determine if the government aid is sufficient in the 15 most affected districts. 

Government Relief Aid Distribution vs Promised For Deceased

It appears that the relief aid distributed by the government falls short by a huge margin for Sindhupalchowk district, which has been the worst hit during the earthquake in 2015. Besides Kathmandu, all of the other districts have received relief aid to compensate the families of the deceased as promised.

Remaining Government Aid

The above graph shows what would be remaining of the distributed relief funds if the government were to compensate families of the deceased as promised. Again, Sindhupalchowk faces a deficit of almost 150 million Nepali rupees to just compensate families of the deceased. Besides Dolakha, all other severely affected districts have less than 30 million rupees remaining for earthquake relief.
The remaining aid shown above would likely be expected to provide relief to individuals or families who have sustained major injuries, minor injuries, have lost their homes completely or need repairs.

Remaining Government Aid Per Injured Individual

The above graph shows the amount each injured individual would receive if the remaining relief funds were distributed to them. As it can be seen, in 12 of the 15 most affected districts, each injured individual would receive no more than a few thousand Nepali rupees. In almost most affected districts, there is hardly any funds left for compensating the injured individuals.

Before I proceed with more comparisons, it should be noted that the Ministry of Home Affairs of Nepal has not yet collected or released information about the number of damaged public buildings in Sindhupalchowk district.

In absence of this data, Sindhupalchowk is omitted and data from only 14 most affected districts are used for further comparisons below.

Remaining Government Aid Vs. Aid Promised for Rebuilding Partly Damaged Homes

I want to highlight that the government has promised 25,000 Nepali rupees for houses that need minor repairs only. I am not aware of any proposals by the government to compensate families who have lost their homes completely. The comparison below omits the number of houses that are severely damaged and includes only the houses that need minor repairs.


The bars in the blue shows the relief funds remaining after compensating families who have lost loved ones. The bars in brown shows the monetary amounts that were promised by the Nepalese government to the families with homes that need minor repairs. As it can be seen, the relief aid in all affected districts falls short of the funds by a huge margin as promised by the government to repair minor home damages. This aid deficit is higher than 800 million Nepali rupees each in Kathmandu and Dolakha districts.

It may be apparent that the total government aid distributed (Rs. 1.35 billion) is not even sufficient to compensate families for just minor damages to their houses in Kathmandu and Dolakha. And, Sindhupalchowk is not even included in this calculation yet.

Government Funding Required To Compensate Deceased & Minor Home Repairs

The chart below shows the amount of relief aid that would be required to simply compensate families who have lost member(s) or need to repair their homes for minor damages, as promised by the government. The blue bar shows the monetary amount promised and the red bar shows the relief aid that was distributed in the 14 most affected districts.

It can be seen that Kathmandu, Dolakha, Nuwakot, Kavrepalanchowk and Gorkha need a lot more relief aid from the government to compensate those affected. The relief aid in almost all affected districts falls short of what was promised.

General Comments

I would like to make a few general comments after having presented these comparisons. The relief compensation packages HAVE NOT been announced:

• For the ones who have sustained major injuries, some of which can be life threatening or may cripple them for the rest of their lives.
• For those who have sustained minor injuries
• For those who have lost their homes completely
• For those whose houses cannot be repaired with a meager sum of 25,000 Nepali rupees
• For families who have been displaced and lost their sources of livelihood. They need temporary relief packages before they can be rehabilitated and engaged in income generating opportunities.

As more data becomes available and more relief funds are distributed by the government, I will continue to perform more data analysis and share my findings with you.

Data Source: Ministry of Home Affairs, Nepal and Nepali Police via OCHA Nepal, current as of May 04, 2015.

Puru Shah is a team member of One Stop Portal. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science (Electrical) from Trinity University in San Antonio, USA.