• TOPICS
Nepal lies in an environmentally hazardous region, largely due to its rugged terrain, steep and young mountains. In a country like ours, roads are critical development infrastructure for national socio-economic development. It is thus necessary to identify and address critical factors or hazard- specific vulnerabilities that may cause damage to roads.
The major hazards triggering road disasters in Nepal, as seen from past studies, are landslides, floods, epidemics, earthquakes, droughts, storms and technological as well as sociological threats. The vulnerability of a particular hazard when elevated results in a disaster.
Unexpected disasters, irrespective of human and geographical boundaries, have caused widespread loss of human lives and property, with great damage caused especially to road structures.
Nepal has a formidable task of developing, preserving and utilising its road infrastructure.
Nepal's road network of all categories of roads is estimated at about 30, 000 km, of which nearly 10,000 km are all weather roads. Roads are the main mode of transport of people and goods in Nepal. Damage to roads, particularly the strategic ones, affects the national transportation system and thereby service delivery.
Disaster management of roads is a continuous process, which deals with avoiding risks.
Individuals, governments and organisations involved in managing road disasters must not only have awareness, knowledge and skills to fairly grasp the risk status or the factors accelerating and triggering hazards but also be able to make quick decisions and mobilise resources. Washout of roads, bridges and other infrastructures, either due to manmade or natural causes, has resulted in considerable loss of life and property in Nepal. One such technological failure was the breach of the earthen embankment by the Koshi River in August 2008. It flooded and breached 4 kilometres of roads on the East West Highway and brought road transportation to a halt for 172 days.
While building any road, project-related activities, from construction to maintenance, that affect the natural slopes and the environment, and non-project activities that mainly result from natural phenomena must be studied and analysed. Activities like casting at site, blasting, quarrying, construction camping, use of fire wood and fossil fuels and excavations are common project level activities, while landslides, GLOF, river cuttings, earthquakes, erosion and human activities constitute non-project level activities. Construction standards, technology, quality assurance mechanisms and practices as well as the level of investment affect the stability of roads.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 17, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.