KATHMANDU: The country received 240 percent more rainfall during this monsoon. Some places, in particular, have recorded 200 mm of rain as well.
Rainfall over 100 mm is called high-intensity rain and is considered to be risky for triggering water-induced disasters such as landslides and flooding.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Home Affairs, a total of 374 persons died in the monsoon-induced disasters since April this year. Altogether 101 persons have gone missing while 421 were injured.
Landslides occurred in various districts such as Baglung, Bajhang, Parbat and Sindhupalchowk, among others have incurred a huge loss of lives and properties.
In Friday’s meeting of State Affairs and Good-Governance Committee, Minister for Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa appraised the Committee members about the initiatives taken by the government to respond to such natural disasters and to prevent them.
Minister Thapa said, “The landslides incurred a huge loss of human lives that occurred in the areas that were not even considered risky. Even the experts could not gauge the possibility of natural disasters. We are looking into such incidents.”
This is for the third time the Committee is consecutively deliberating on the issues surrounding natural disasters and its aftermath.
Sindhupalchowk recorded the highest causalities this year from natural disasters, mainly landslides. Most of the landslides were triggered by the incessant rain.
A total of 271 persons lost their lives to landslides while 206 sustained injuries. Similarly, 39 persons were reported dead in flooding and 64 succumbed to lightning and 203 were injured.
Responding to the queries raised by the parliamentarians in the Committee, Minister Thapa shared that rescue and relief operations were forwarded simultaneously in those disaster-hit areas.
On occasion, the parliamentarians expressed their concerns for not relocating the human settlements that were at high risk of landslides and floods. However, Minister Thapa argued that many such settlements were relocated while in some places, the locals there did not cooperate with the government’s action to relocate them to safer places.
“A temporary settlement was built at Lidi in Sindhupalchowk district considering the risks for a landslide. The locals had stayed in that temporary settlement for a night. The unpleasant incident occurred the next morning as they had returned their home assuming that there would not be any landslide after that,” Minister Thapa shared.
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