In Humla's Chankheli Rural Municipality-5, Nepka, heavy rains on Tuesday night along with hailstorms have washed away the homes and farmland of locals, including Danfe Basic School.

The flood submerged the homes of ward chair Harkadhan Tamang and local Dhansingh Tamang, while the farmland of 67 households along with their crops have been washed away. 'All the houses in the village are at risk,' said ward chair Tamang. 'The flood devastated the village even before the rains started. What will happen when the monsoon starts?'

Last year, on April 4, 23 houses were damaged due to the flood in Srinagar Bazaar in Adanchuli Rural Municipality-3, Humla. The flood also damaged the rural municipality office, food depot, and Suryodaya Secondary School buildings and other structures in Srinagar, the rural municipality center. Nearly 100 livestock were buried in the flood. The village is still at high risk, said Rural Municipality Chairman Mohan Bikram Singh.

‘Due to incessant rains, the flood with a large amount of water entered the market, causing great damage,’ he said, ‘The locals are making minor repairs to the damaged structures and are living there. If the flood occurs again, it will be difficult to save the market.’

On June 1 last year, two houses were completely damaged and 18 houses were partially damaged after a flood and landslide hit Tilgaun in Namkha Rural Municipality-6. After the village itself became highly vulnerable, 32 families were shifted to safer places for some time. The entire village is still at high risk of floods and landslides, said Ward Chairman Paljor Tamang of Namkha-6. According to him, the flood and landslide washed away 5 wooden bridges of the Tilchung River, while the small hydropower project was also completely destroyed.

‘The village has suffered a lot of damage after the two glaciers in the Thakra above the village burst and caused flooding, and there is a risk that the glaciers will burst again,’ he said, ‘The municipality does not have the budget to prevent the risk of glaciers, and the federal government does not care.’

He complains that Tilgaun is at high risk after the village was cut off from three sides by an avalanche from above the village. According to him, 19 families live in the village. ‘The risk has increased significantly, if the locals are not rescued in time, anything can happen,’ said Ward Chairman Tamang, ‘The two large glaciers above the village have frozen over, and water has started flowing from below.’

Villages are at risk when floods occur every year in the Himalayan district of Humla. ‘It used to be said that floods only occur in the Terai, but now settlements in the Himalayan districts are at risk every year,’ said Rural Municipality Chairman Prem Bahadur Lama, ‘Instead, there is not much risk of landslides here. It is difficult to save villages from floods in places where there are no rivers.’ As he said, there are no large rivers in all three places that flooded last year and this year in Humla. Humla Chief District Officer Tek Kumar Regmi says that the major floods occurred in places where there were dry rivers during the winter.

‘The main reason for floods in the Himalayan districts is the breaking of glacial lakes,’ he said, ‘In places where snow accumulates in winter, the soil is soft, so even during normal rains, the risk of both landslides and floods was seen when the loose soil flows.’

Climate change expert Laxman Sharma said that the risk of floods in the Himalayan districts is due to the effects of climate change, the breaking of glacial lakes, higher than average rainfall, and weak geography. "Even if it rains in winter, snow will freeze. When snow freezes for a long time, the soil becomes loose and weak. When rain falls on it, it takes the form of floods and landslides." He informed that the risk of avalanches and floods is increasing due to the increase in temperature and the weakening of the land around the mountains.

Surendra Khatri, who is involved in various research in Karnali on the effects of climate change, said that the condition of the land in the Himalayan region has started to weaken as the acidity of the soil increases. He said that landslides are increasing due to excessive monsoon rains, steep terrain and lack of environmentally friendly development. According to him, climate change has disrupted the regular seasonal cycle.

‘Humla is a rain shadow area (low rainfall), but due to the recent indiscriminate rainfall, the land cannot absorb water and there is a risk of flooding,’ he said, ‘The unstable geography of the Himalayan region cannot absorb much rainwater, which disrupts the geographical structure, initially there are minor landslides, which block rivers and streams and cause major floods.’ He said that the increasing number of flood incidents is also affecting the ecology of the Himalayan region. According to him, the floods and landslides that occurred in Uttarakhand, India last year are also of the same nature.

Karnali at high risk of floods and landslides

With the onset of the rainy season, rural settlements in Karnali are at high risk of floods and landslides. According to the Karnali State Planning Commission, about 57 percent of the land in Karnali, which has an area of ​​27,984 square kilometers, is steep. According to the commission, there were 3,671 landslides in 10 districts of Karnali last year. 'The province is at high risk of landslides due to steep terrain and weak geography,' said commission member Ashoknath Yogi. 'The risk of landslides is increasing due to haphazard road construction, the impact of climate change, unseasonal rains, lack of preparation, construction of physical structures in risky places, and human negligence.' A study conducted by the commission in 2080 BS showed that nearly 900 settlements in Karnali were at high risk of floods and landslides. He informed that the coastal areas where the Karnali and Bheri rivers flow are at risk of floods. The floods in the Karnali River in 2071 BS killed 125 people in Surkhet alone and displaced nearly 400 families. Of these, nearly 200 families are still living in displacement in places such as the Bus Park area in Birendranagar and Girighat.'

In Karnali, floods and landslides have caused losses of about 10 billion 940 million rupees in the last 10 years from the fiscal year 2072/73 to the present. During this period, 617 people have lost their lives in floods and landslides. According to the three-year data of the Provincial Police Office, 169 people have died. According to the office, 54 people lost their lives in floods and landslides in the fiscal year 2080/81, 63 people in 2081/82 and 52 people in 2082/83. In the past 3 years, 492 people were injured and 17 are still missing. During this period, physical damage of about 330 million rupees has been caused.

The Karnali Provincial Government has been preparing a monsoon preparedness action plan since 2079 BS. But due to the lack of implementation of the action plan, the number of people affected by natural disasters is increasing, said campaigner Suraj Pariyar. ‘Plans are made, but the implementing agencies are inactive during disasters,’ he said, ‘that is why we are suffering loss of life and property every year.’ He said that the problems in disaster management are due to ineffective mapping of risk areas, insufficient manpower and budget, lack of effective coordination between government agencies, and delays in relief and rescue.    

The Karnali provincial government has already spent nearly Rs 390 million on disaster management in the past 3 years.  Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning Rajib Bikram Shah said that nearly Rs 150 million has been allocated for disaster reduction in the current fiscal year.  According to him, a monsoon preparedness action plan has been prepared for disaster reduction, including awareness raising, mapping of vulnerable settlements, effective information management, search and rescue during disasters, and relief distribution.  According to the action plan, it is estimated that about 11,000 households and about 60,000 people in Karnali are affected by monsoon-related disasters annually.

Earthquake-affected settlements at risk of landslides

On July 29 last year, the flood in the Gijagar River killed the granddaughters of Sher Bahadur Pun of Jinchour, Aathbiskot Municipality-12, Rukum West, Hitmaya Pun, 10, and Dhansa Pun, 8, and Manisha Sarki, 4, who had come to sleep in the tent. He and his family of 7 were living in the tent after the earthquake destroyed their house. The flood washed away 3 more temporary houses and 2 caravans along with them. Similarly, on Bhadra 30 last year, a landslide in a temporary hut in Danda Gaun, Nalgad Municipality-2, Jajarkot killed 42-year-old Lal Bahadur Pariyar, his wife Manisha, 35, and their two-year-old son Shubham Pariyar.

Last year alone, nine earthquake victims died in floods and landslides in Jajarkot and Rukum West. Locals complain that the risk of floods and landslides is high in settlements weakened by the earthquake. ‘Now, even during normal rains, landslides have started falling from above the village,’ said Ram Bahadur Mahar of Bheri Municipality-1, ‘We have avoided the earthquake as much as possible, but when it starts raining, we worry day and night about how to avoid landslides.’

Last year, the District Disaster Management Committee of both districts had recommended the immediate relocation of 28 settlements in Jajarkot and Rukum West that were affected by the earthquake. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority had also studied those settlements. According to the study, Sagachaur, Libal, Detkule in Chhedagar, Tolkhana, Laikham in Barekot, Chaur, Chaupani, Maide in Bheri Municipality, Dungara, Luppakha, Bius in Shivalaya, Chiuri, Pali in Nalgad and other settlements are at high risk of landslides. According to the authority, Kalapahira, Kuridhara in Aathbiskot in Rukum West, Chinavagar, Gajetakuri in Sanibheri Rural Municipality and other settlements are also at high risk.