Displaced residents of Gorkha return to village after landslide control

GORKHA: Kharungaon, located in Barpak Sulikot Rural Municipality-4 of Gorkha, was devastated by the 2015 powerful earthquake.

All the houses in the village were damaged. Although the residents of Kharungaon initially returned to their homes, which were mostly repaired and rebuilt, they faced new challenges.

Just a few months later, in July, heavy rains put the village at risk of landslides.

When the landslides struck, some families were displaced, with many relocating to Chitwan, Gorkhabazar, and Chwetar.

Following the threat posed by the landslides, the situation has improved with support from the Land and Watershed Management Office and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Local resident Suk Bahadur Tamang noted that after the landslide was controlled, those who had left began to return. “All the villages were scattered by the landslide,” he said.

Lilajung Gurung, a Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist with the FAO, reported that the landslide control efforts included planting trees, along with the construction of Gavin walls in at-risk areas.

Gurung stated that six families displaced by the landslides have now returned to their homes.

Sher Bahadur Gurung, another local who was displaced, shared his experience: “When the landslide started taking away the village, my family had to leave. There was no safe place nearby due to the constant threat of landslides, so we moved to Chitwan for almost four years. We returned only after the landslides stopped.”

He emphasized that with the landslides under control, it is now safe to live in the village.

In areas where trees have been planted to prevent landslides, villagers have completely stopped grazing livestock.

Additionally, they have formed a group focused on income generation through the sustainable use of Amriso (Kans grass), which is also being utilized for landslide control.

The community feels increasingly secure, especially since a full warning system has been established in the village to provide early alerts about potential landslides.