IOM hands over multipurpose community centre

The newly constructed multipurpose community centre at Changunarayan municipality of Bhaktapur district has been handed over to the municipal authority on Monday. The building will be used as ‘coordination hub’ by the municipality as part of its crisis preparedness and response efforts including the COVID-19, according to a press note issued by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
The building was constructed by the IOM with financial support from Thailand with purpose of supporting the Nepalese people to recover from Nepal Earthquake 2015. “It gives a feeling of accomplishment that we were able to complete the earthquake-resistant structure within the set time frame and the building can now be an added value to Local Government’s efforts to respond to the current pandemic,” said chief migration health officer of IOM Nepal Dr Vasil Gajdadziev.
The earthquake displaced approximately 2.8 million people. Some 117,700 people in the 14 worst-affected districts were forced to find shelter in makeshift camps.
Similarly, the impact of the ongoing pandemic in Nepal has been increasing daily with hundreds of thousands of migrants returning home from India after it eased its lockdown from June 1.
The government has started repatriation of Nepalis stranded abroad since early June as Nepal had imposed nationwide lockdown effective from March 24.