MELAMCHI, JULY 11
Chairperson of Ward 11 in Melamchi Municipality Rudra Dulal is now busy collecting details of the loss of physical properties at Melamchi bazaar.
Reportedly, Dulal is worried about how people of Melamchi Bazaar can be rehabilitated.
Melamchi bazaar was ravaged by massive flooding three weeks ago.
The bazaar area has changed into a pile of sand with all physical structures damaged.
The massive floods triggered by rainfall and landslides also damaged a historical bridge constructed by late Chandra Shumsher.
"Due to timely dissemination of information about floods in the Indrawati area above Melamchi Bazaar, human loss was luckily averted," Dulal recalled, adding that people's houses, hotels and restaurants and municipality offices and structures perished in the massive floods.
Police made the locals aware via miking in the market area in the evening after information was relayed about the looming flood in the Indrawati River.
June 15 has become unforgettable for him. Following the police miking, people left their houses even without taking the evening meal they had readied. They left the bazaar in search of safe places. Throughout the night, they stayed in a local school. They were provided meals by the Nepali Army that night.
"The next morning, the entire bazaar area was covered with flood sludge. The river had entered the bazaar areas. We had never imagine it," he recalled the dreary memory of the disaster.
In his ward, as many as 140 houses are damaged fully and 42 are at high risk. Those who left houses on the eve of the disaster are now searching for rooms to rent.
The municipality has decided to provide room fares to 200 households for up to two months. He further said the people wanted concrete houses rather than temporary settlement.
Mayor at Melamchi Municipality Dambar Bahadur Aryal said although the municipality could provide some relief to disaster survivors, both the province and federal governments should provide assistance for a sustainable solution.
"The municipality has filled the forms and prepared to send them to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority to ascertain the beneficiaries," he added. Ten excavators were used by the municipality to return the Melamchi and Indrawati rivers to their original course and remove the debris.
"The ravaged Melamchi bazaar wants its revival with the joint effort of all sides," he said.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 12 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
