The youth who have left the village have gone to cities including the district headquarters Gamgadhi, Jumla, Nepalgunj, Kathmandu and others. Local teacher Maniraj Budha said that some families have also reached various cities in India. ‘In the months of May and June, houses are covered with snow, all the roads and bridges are closed,’ he said, ‘so it is not possible to live in the village.’
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Pemba Tamang of Jang, Namkha Rural Municipality-6, Humla, was preparing to leave the village with his family of five in the first week of Kartik. But he stopped when his neighbors asked him to go with them after a week. However, after the snowfall on Tuesday, he has had trouble leaving the village.
‘This year, the snow fell early. We are sitting inside the house, warming ourselves with fire and eating hot food,’ he said on the telephone. ‘It will take 2/3 days for this snow to melt, and after it melts, it will fall towards the mountains.’
Tasi Tamang of Mugugaun, Mugamkarmarong Rural Municipality-1, Mugu, is also preparing to descend to Gamgadhi, the district headquarters, as soon as the snow melts. ‘The supplies for the evacuation are ready,’ he said. ‘If there is no more snow, we will all leave the village within 3/4 days.’ According to him, about half a foot of snow has accumulated in the area around the village.
On Tuesday, the first snowfall of the year occurred in Namkha, Kharpunath, Sarkegad Rural Municipality in Humla, Mugamkarmarong in Mugu, Charkatangsong, Dolpobuddha, Shefoksundo and other rural municipalities. But some have already left the village before the snowfall, said Paljor Tamang, ward chairman of Namkha Rural Municipality-6. ‘Many are still in the village,’ he said, ‘This time, with the snowfall coming so quickly, it has become difficult to move from one house to another. Everyone is sitting inside their homes, warming themselves with fire, and even the livestock are locked in the shed.’ There are 147 families in Limi, which consists of three villages - Halji, Til and Jang. Out of that, only about 50 families have left the village, he said.
Some locals from Limi have left for Nepalgunj on the first flight of Sita Airlines on Thursday. Simkot Airport Chief Mahendra Bahadur Singh said that tickets were distributed by lottery after the airline operated three flights on Thursday, which was very crowded with passengers. ‘There are no small boats in Nepalgunj right now,’ he said, ‘It is difficult to get tickets due to the pressure of people coming down from the Terai to escape the cold.’
Mugamkarmarong Rural Municipality Chairman Chhiringkapne Lama said that movement from one village to another has been stopped due to the snowfall on Tuesday. According to him, up to half a foot of snow has accumulated in villages including Mugugaun, Dolpu, Kimri, Magri. ‘From the third week of Kartik to the first week of Mangsir until Pohar, all the villages in the entire municipality used to be empty, this time too everyone was preparing to go down to the valley to escape the cold,’ he said, ‘But after the rapid snowfall, most of them are in the villages, all the settlements are deserted due to the snowfall, no one has been able to go out.’ According to him, the snowfall started in the first week of Kartik in 2068 BS.
When the extreme cold makes it impossible to live in the villages, the residents of high-mountain settlements leave the villages for about 6 months. Darji Lama of Mugugaun said that he is forced to leave the village before the snowfall as the cold will make it difficult to survive the winter. His family of seven, who left the village a week ago, is now in the district headquarters. ‘Now we will not leave the village until Chaitra,’ he said, ‘and others are preparing to leave the village by keeping two or four people in the village.’ He said that some locals have already moved to settlements such as Siranichaur, Pipladi Kuna, Chitai Odhar, and Dhungedhara.
The youth who have left the village have been going to the district headquarters, Gamgadhi, Jumla, Nepalgunj, and Kathmandu, among other cities. Local teacher Maniraj Budha said that some of them have even reached various cities in India with their families. ‘In the months of Pus and Magh, houses are covered with snow, and all the roads are closed,’ he said, ‘that is why the village is not habitable.’
