Nepal marks Gorkha earthquake anniversary with tribute to victims

Nepal on Monday marked the first anniversary of the devastating Gorkha earthquake by remembering the thousands of people who had lost their lives.

The biggest quake in the region in the last eight decades left nearly 9,000 people dead, more than 22,000 injured and three quarters of a million families homeless on this day last year.

The occasion also saw some voicing their anger and anguish over the government's slow pace of reconstruction.

According to a Kathmandu Post report, a demonstration was staged at the southern gate of the Singha Durbar in Kathmandu.

According to the daily, out of the 770,000 families rendered homeless, only 700 have received the first installment of the Rs.200, 000 cash grant for building houses.

Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli attended a wreath-laying ceremony at Sundhara where the iconic Dharahara tower once stood before the magnitude 7.8 earthquake reduced it to rubble on April 25, 2015.

In the Barpak region of Nepal's Gorkha district, the epicentre of the earthquake, the country's President, Bidhya Devi Bhandari, laid the first stone for the rebuilding of the house of Gopal BK, one of the victims.

She also laid the foundation stone for an earthquake memorial park in Barkpak and inaugurated the construction of a memorial.

More than 800,000 houses were destroyed, mostly in the Hills, due to the tremors.

Of the 602,000 destroyed houses and 185,000 damaged ones in the country, less than five percent of the displaced families have rebuilt their homes while the rest are still living in makeshift tents of tarpaulin, zinc sheets and bamboo.

At Basantapur Durbar Square, people reorganised a blood-donation programme, as on the day last year when the earthquake struck.

Elsewhere in the country, people are attending silent rallies and distributing relief materials. (ANI with inputs)