PROBE BODY OF BUDDHA AIR CRASH ASKED TO SUBMIT REPORT IN ONE WEEK

MORE ON BUDDHA AIR CRASH

Kathmandu, 25 Sept.: A three-member investigation looking into the reasons for the crash of a Buddha Air aircraft has been given one week to submit a report.
A probe body was formed hours after the crash.
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SUSPECTED INFLATED QUAKE FIGURES BEIING REASSESED

Kathmandu, 25 Sept.: Two separate teams of government officials, one in Ilam and another in Panchthar, have started verifying the figures of properties damaged in the recent earthquake. Another team is expected to begin its task in Taplejung from Sunday, Roshan Sanwa reports from Ilam in Republica.

The assessment teams were formed by the district administration offices (DAOs) of the districts after the local all-party mechanisms, which also include VDC secretaries and police officers, were suspected to have inflated the loss figures in favor of their near and dear ones.


"The reports of damaged properties showed more damages than we really expected," The chief district officer of Panchthar, Laxmi Prasad Kharel, said. "Therefore, we have decided to mobilize another team to verify the reports of quake-damages."

According to Kharel, the home ministry has also instructed the DAOs to make sure not fake quake victim gets relief materials.

As per reports updated till Saturday, a total of 1,378 houses have been found damaged by the quake in Ilam district alone. Similarly, 474 houses in Panchthar and 862 houses in Taplejung have been found damaged.

The number of damaged houses is likely to go up as the all-party mechanisms are yet to reach some more villages.

"We have not been able to reach remote villages of Taplejung like Olangchungola and Lelep due to adverse weather," said Subash Bhattarai, of Taplejung DAO, adding, "We are yet to distribute relief materials in these remote parts of the district."

Last Sunday, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake had rocked eastern Nepal, north-India and Tibet.
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