26-year-old Prakash Humagai was the only son of Saraswati. Who passed away forever on 12 October 2081. Looking at October 12th on the wall, Saraswati says, 'The darkest day of life, how can you forget that time, that moment.'
Saraswati Humagai of Panauti Municipality-12 Kalant has not missed her son Prakash Humagai in a year. Saraswati lost her husband to tuberculosis 13 years ago. Since then Prakash was his only support.
Incessant rains for three days from 11th October 2081 not only caused floods/landslides, Saraswati also lost her only life support. 26-year-old Prakash Humagai was the only son of Saraswati. Who passed away forever on 12 October 2081. Looking at October 12 in Bhittepatro, Saraswati says, 'The darkest day of life, how to forget that time, that moment.' It was gone, there was hope that he was still alive. As the night fell on the son's 2nd, it was still raining till the 12th. After 4 o'clock, after the rain subsided, a search was made, where two people were found alive and two dead, Prakash was among those found dead.' Saraswati lost all her support and habitat due to the flood. Saraswati has nothing left but the memory of Prakash in Kalanti. Since that day she has been alone. She was devastated by the loss of her son for months. After her life recovered, she has been living in a camp at Malpi, Panauti Municipality 8.
'There is nothing in Kalanti anymore, there is no place to live, now I am living in Malpi paying 2000 rupees per month as a tent,' she said, 'I am not even able to build a house, I cannot build a house on the land I have, there is a risk of landslides, there is no land in other places, the government says that it will give relief to build a house, even if relief comes, where and how to build a house, there is no money to buy land and build a house in a safe place.' That worry makes him restless from time to time.
The government has provided 25,000 rupees as the first installment for the reconstruction of temporary housing for the affected people who were displaced by the floods. But most of the affected people do not have a safe place to spend even that amount. Rajendra Shrestha of Panauti-12 Mahbhir, who had nothing left of his house, farm, and shop due to Roshi flood, has been staying with his relatives for a few days and renting a room in Banepa for about 1 year.
How can you live there at the risk of both floods and landslides? I have to pay 15,000 rent per month and live in Banepa," he said. "With the money given by the government, we cannot move, there is a risk of landslides above and floods below."
Living in a dilapidated house
76-year-old Gopilal Sapkota of Bethanchok rural municipality 2 Shirchaur says, "We built a house by dilapidating, but for now the house is managed by dilapidating." Gopilal refuses to leave his ancestral home. That's why he has been staying in the house after moving the house destroyed by the landslide.
He stayed in a safe place with his family before the landslide damaged the house. He said that he went to the shelter of his relatives for 2/3 months after the flood/landslide. "It was not possible to live in the shelter of relatives all the time, we repaired the house here," he said. He said that he did not want to leave his ancestral home and was staying here. "That tower is not even built on our land," he said. His house was completely damaged by the landslide. As the land he owns is at risk of landslides, he is confused about how to do the reconstruction work. He said that due to the same confusion, he did not fill the beneficiary list form. According to him, even though the government has provided funds, there is no place to build houses. He did not fill the form because of confusion about where and how to build a house.
After the October 2081 landslide, he has been camping in Banepa with his 74-year-old mother. "We saved our lives when there was a risk of going home due to landslides. We decided where to go and how to stay," he said. There is a joint family of 23 with the mother of the youngest, 5 brothers and sisters. 20 of the 23 people, including the youngest, are now living in different places in Kathmandu because they have no place to live after the landslide destroyed their house. "There was no house/house left in the village due to the landslide," he said. He said that it is not possible to live in that tower because it is a joint family. "We don't have safe land in the village," he said.
Out of the 13 municipalities of Kavre due to last year's floods and landslides, Bethanchok, Roshi, Panauti, Temal and Namobuddha municipalities have suffered a lot of human and physical damage, according to the details of the district administration office. According to the details, 79 people of Kavre were killed, 88 injured and 6 people went missing due to the landslide. Similarly, the office has the details of 2 thousand 979 houses being completely damaged.
Thousands have been left homeless after being completely damaged by the flood. Some have been living in the shelter of relatives, some have been living in camps, and some have been living in ruined houses taking risks. Although the government has provided Rs 25,000 as part of the first installment for the construction of temporary housing for the affected people, it has not been able to manage the temporary housing in a safe place.
It is mentioned in the details of the administration that for the first installment of 3 thousand 128 families of 13 municipalities of the district, 782 million rupees have been released for the construction of temporary housing. Similarly, two municipalities of the district have also provided the second installment. According to the administration, 196 households of Bethanchok rural municipality and 461 households of Roshi rural municipality have received 1 crore 64 lakh 25 thousand rupees for the second installment.
According to the district disaster management committee, 395 settlements of Kavre are at high risk due to last year's monsoon disaster. According to the information gathered by the District Disaster Management Committee through various checkpoints under the local level and district police, it has been identified that 395 settlements in 13 municipalities of Kavre are at risk due to floods and landslides. According to the identification, it has been estimated that 23 thousand 45 people from 6 thousand 375 households in 395 settlements in 13 municipalities of the district may be affected by the landslide. According to the data of the disaster committee, there is a high risk of floods and landslides in all 13 municipalities. In Kavre, it is mentioned that the highest risk is 56 settlements in Roshi and the least 9 settlements in Khanikhola. Although the data, conditions and details of
victims have been collected, they have not yet been managed in a safe place. Addressing the issue of
victims, the meeting of the disaster management committee held on 5th November 2081 decided to request the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority and the Urban Development and Building Office for the geographical study of the risky settlements. The meeting decided to request all the local disaster management committees to identify the settlements that are uninhabitable due to the floods and need to be relocated and send the details. Even after 11 months of the said decision, the concerned body has not started any process for its implementation.
District Disaster Management Committee Coordinator and Chief District Officer Umesh Kumar Dhakal said that this matter has been brought to the attention of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority and the Urban Development and Building Office. According to him, despite repeated requests to the higher authorities, no hearing has been done so far.
