Local levels ill-equipped to respond to calamities

Kathmandu, April 8

Local governments can play an active role during natural disasters as they have the first-hand knowledge of their communities’ social, economic and environmental conditions. However, in most cases local governments in the country have remained inefficient to promptly respond to natural disasters, due to lack of disaster response capacity and disaster management plans.

Besides the absence of a sound disaster management plan, local bodies are also crippled by lack of resources, such as equipment and skilled/trained human resources, to face natural disasters. This has resulted in a slow and ineffective response to disasters, such as carrying out search and rescue operations.

Though local bodies are yet to develop disaster response and resilience capacity, they can still play a crucial and meaningful role while coping with natural disasters by seeking help from provincial and federal governments, according to Chief of National Emergency Operation Centre at the Ministry of Home Affairs Bedanidhi Khanal.

“If any local government lacks resources to respond to disasters, it should seek help of the provincial and federal governments. However, in the case of Bara-Parsa windstorm, local governments did not approach the federal government for help”, according to NEOC chief Khanal.

Provincial and local governments are required to allocate five per cent of the budget for disaster management. The amount should be kept under disaster management fund.

Nepali Army, Armed Police Force and Nepal Police should join hands to carry out search and rescue operations during natural disaster in coordination with local bodies, according to Khanal.

Chairperson of National Association of Rural Municipalities Hom Narayan Shrestha said the constitution had devolved powers to all three tiers of the government and hence they all should jointly carry out disaster management work.

“The local governments may have problems, but without coordination the works of disaster management cannot be completed effectively,” Shrestha told THT. According to him, all the local governments have allocated at least Rs 2 million for the disaster management fund. “NARA has urged federal and provincial governments to carry out effective reconstruction and relief works for the victims of Bara and Parsa disaster,” said Shrestha.

According to the home ministry, it will take almost a month to complete reconstruction works in Bara and Parsa. The MoHA said two teams of health workers had been sent to Bara and Parsa in order to assess the health needs of disaster victims.

Bara and Parsa windstorm killed 28 people, including 11 men, 11 women and six children.

Of the 678 injured persons, 125 are still undergoing treatment in hospitals, while 553 injured have already been discharged. A total of 2,337 houses in Bara and Parsa districts were damaged in the storm.