JUST over two weeks after the devastating earthquake, Nepal is entering the second phase of its recovery. The first phase was rescue and relief. With the hope of finding anybody alive having faded, rescue teams from abroad have now gone back.

Relief in the form of clean water, food, medicines, tents and tarpaulins has reached most of the affected people, except those in the most remote areas. Additional relief is, however, still very much required.

The second phase of rehabilitation and reconstruction has begun. The government has established a National Reconstruction Fund to which it has allocated US$200 million. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has pledged US$300 million and other donors will surely follow suit. The ADB has also established an earthquake response team which will work with other partners to assess the losses and estimate the long-term investment needs. Japan has proposed to convene a donor group meeting.

… The writer is associate professor and coordinator of the International Political Economy Programme in the Centre for Multilateralism Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is a Nepali citizen who was previously a senior director at the Asian Development Bank.