Joshimath Disaster: 24 families forced to live in rented houses for a year, government paid until November; now paying themselves.

Dehradun/Joshimath

After last year’s earthquake, 181 buildings in several wards of Joshimath were declared unsafe. Families living in these houses went to relief camps, including 24 families who are still living in rented accommodations.

They had sold some belongings of the house, while the remaining items were kept in the damaged houses. Although the administration provided rent until last November, now they have to pay rent themselves. Affected individuals say that the disaster took away their homes, forcing them to stay in rented houses.

Lakshmi Prasad Sati from Manohar Bagh ward mentioned that cracks appeared all around the house due to the disaster, leading the entire family to the relief camp. They stayed in the camp for five months, and then moved to rented rooms in the city. Their house had two rooms and also had two cows and a cowshed.

After the disaster, they sold the cowshed and the animals. Essential items were kept, and other items had to be sold. They received rent payments from the administration until November last year. Now they have to pay rent themselves. Gajendra Singh from Ravigram ward also explained that their two-room house was damaged due to the earthquake.

They stayed in the relief camp for two months and then returned to the damaged house. However, they only received rent payments from the administration until November.