Pokhara, June 19

Scores of people lose their lives to flood and landslide in Kaski every year. The concerned government agencies, however, are doing nothing to make people take precautionary measures or shift them to safer places.

In the fiscal 2014/15, 36 persons were swept away by landslips and floods in Kaski, almost the same number of deaths caused by natural calamities as in the last fiscal.

Most of the 32 VDCs in Kaski are at risk of landslide. Many city areas too are at risk of inundation and erosion.

Kaski CDO and District Disaster Rescue Committee Kaski Chairman Hari Prasad Mainali admitted that no precautionary or evacuation programme was in place. Mainali said that a team of security force had been put on standby and would be dispatched when disaster struck.

Information Officer Bishnu Pokhrel at District Soil Conservation Office Kaski said many areas in Kaski were topographically fragile. Besides, most of the settlements on river banks were at risk of inundation. Pokhrel said people living near flood and landslide prone areas should think twice before settling there.

More than 3,000 houses in Pokhara Sub-metropolis are at high risk of landslip and flood, while over 5,000 houses in the villages are at the risk of disasters.

A meeting of the District Disaster Rescue Committee Kaski held two days ago issued a directive to VDC secretaries to collect data on settlements prone to flood and landslide.

As many as 28 people were killed in floods in the Seti River, while some 35 people had gone missing five years ago. According to Pokhrel, more than 2,000 families of Sardikhola, Hemja, Simpani, Mahendrapul, Ramghat on the banks of Seti River are living at high risk of flood and mudslide.

Similarly, Bijayapur, Kanhukhola, Fusre, Kali and Harpan Khola too are posing risk to human settlements inside the sub-metropolis. Pokhrel said some settlements are at high risk of flood and inundation in Lekhnath Municipality.

Last year, six people were killed in the flood in Dhada khola in Bhadaure.

Many VDCs, including Lumle, Chapakot, Salyan, Dangsingh, Sarangkot, Armala, Deurali, Rupakot, Bhachowk, Parche, Mauja, are at high risk of landslide.

Nepal Red Cross Society Kaski Chair Bamdev Dhungana said as since many places in Kaski are at high risk of flood and mudslide, settlements in fragile areas must be shifted to safer places.

Dhungana said his office had directed to the members of 55 branches of Red Cross Society across the district to stay on high alert to rescue people from natural disasters during monsoon.