KATHMANDU: Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) lawmaker Sobita Gautam has said Nepal must break away from the traditional cycle of rebuilding after disasters and reshape its development framework to make the country more resilient to disasters.
Minister Gautam made the remarks in a post on social media. “It is now time to break away from the cycle of reconstruction after disasters and rewrite Nepal’s development framework in a way that can withstand disasters,” she wrote.
“We cannot stop rivers. We cannot control mountains and glaciers. We cannot stop global climate change alone. But we can make every effort to build a Nepal that can cope with these challenges,” she added.
Gautam said she had raised the issue in the Law Reform Committee, arguing that disaster and climate resilience should no longer be treated as a matter limited to a single law or policy.
“The government is clear that this should be made a fundamental principle of every development-related law, policy, plan and infrastructure project,” she said.
Gautam said Nepal has faced major natural disasters continuously over the past 12 to 13 years, resulting in significant loss of lives, property and infrastructure. She said the practice of starting from scratch after every disaster must end.
She recalled that disasters including the Sindhupalchowk landslide, the devastating 2015 earthquake, floods and landslides in the Tatopani-Bhotekoshi region, the Melamchi-Indrawati floods, the Sunkoshi and Roshi floods, the Thame flood in Solukhumbu and the Jajarkot earthquake have caused extensive damage across the country.
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