Bajura, September 3

Preparations are on to bring in a team of geologists to Bajura to gauge the level of risk for human settlements under threat of landslides.

According to District Disaster Management Committee Coordinator and Chief District Officer Chetraj Baral, the study by experts and their report will be crucial in managing settlements in the district.

“A decision to bring in an experts’ team was taken in a DDMC meeting and the decision was sent to the concerned ministry to act on it,” he said.

As per the plan, the condition of settlement areas of Pata and Rila villages in Badimalika Municipality; Kudi and Amkot villages in Budhiganga Municipality; Guiwan, Naina and Gumlagaun in Khaptad Chhededaha Rural Municipality will be studied in the first phase.

“As settlements in the villages are deemed to be at high risk of landslides, locals too have called for a study to assess the risk,” said Badimalika Municipality Ward No 1 Chair Ram Bahadur Karki, adding, 268 families of different villages in the municipality need to be shifted to safer places.

About 70 per cent area in the district is unsuitable for settlement as per various studies and reports prepared in the past.