More than 400 households at risk
KATHMANDU: With rocks falling down from morning at Tarebhir of Gokarneshwor Municipality, more than 400 households downhill are at risk.
Officials, however, said no human casualty or any physical loss was reported.
Sixty households have already been shifted to safer places and victims have been provided tents and relief materials.
According to Chief Executive Officer of Gokarneshwor Municipality Ram Chandra Tiwari, Tamang settlements are at risk. He said the municipality has managed necessary materials, including tents and relief materials, to shift 60 households to safer places nearby with the help of security personnel.
“We will further assess the vulnerability of the hill and act according to the suggestions of experts tomorrow,” Tiwari said. He added that if experts fear massive landslide, more than 400 households may need to be relocated.
Lawmaker Rameswor Phuyal said he has urged the government to provide necessary relief materials and to relocate vulnerable families to safer places. “The local all-party mechanism is discussing the possible threat and alternative places for relocating affected families,” he said. Phuyal further said the landslide had occurred at Tarebhir after the April 25 earthquake as well.
Many parts of wards 7 and 8 of the municipality have been affected due to falling rocks and locals are living in fear, said Harka Tamang, a local Unified CPN-Maoist leader. Tamang said rocks began to fall from 10:30am and if that continued more than 400 houses would be displaced. He further said Tarebhir Primary School also needed to be relocated as it was located in a very vulnerable area.
Local UML leader Uddhav Bista said some professors of geology at Tribhuvan University hadwarned of disaster a few days earlier.
He said locals were of the vies that rainfall could have triggered the landslide.The April 25 earthquake and its aftershocks had created cracks in Tarebhir and Okhreni hills. Ganesh Regmi, a UCPN-M leader said he had informed the media about cracks at the two hills and possible risk to the settlements.
