UNHCR begins construction of Goldhap camp

Kathmandu, April 24: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has started rebuilding Goldhap camp devastated by fires left more than 8,000 exiled homeless.

No one was killed in the fire that gutted the camp last month, which destroyed nearly 95 per cent of the settlement.

The newly-reconstructed camp – rebuilding is expected to be completed in July, ahead of the July monsoon rains – will have fire-retardant thatched roofs and wider spacing between huts to minimize fire hazards, UNHCR said.

While UNHCR and its partners have so far received $177,000 to reconstruct the settlement, it still requires more than $400,000 to complete the task.

For the past two months, exiled Bhutanese have been living in temporary shelters and with host families, with the most vulnerable of them sheltering in the camp school which survived the blaze.

The Nepalese Government, UNHCR and other organizations have provided food, tarpaulins, plastic mats, jerry cans, mosquito nets and emergency cash grants to those made homeless by the fire.

To avert the spread of diseases, UNHCR has provided health workers, installed water tanks and latrines and dug waste disposal pits, among other efforts.

Caritas Nepal, a local NGO supporting education of the exiled Bhutanese, with the help of Bhutan News Service had distributed copies of school notes for students who had lost them in the fire, while those sitting annual exams were hosted in other camps. Bhutan News Service