The cold wave begins in November, reaches its pinnacle in December, and continues till February, lasting 26 to 56 days. What is alarming is that these days have been increasing since 2004 onwards
Nepal is at times portrayed as a supermarket of disasters on account of almost all the disasters hitting it with the solitary exception of the tsunami due to being a landlocked country. We have still vivid memory of the killer earthquake in 2015 that measured 7.6 on the Richter scale, which killed more than 8,000 people. The social and cultural loss was simply astronomical.
Last year, Nepal faced heavy rains to the extent of 624 millimeters overnight in Dodhara Chandani, when it receives 1,340 mm on average per year. The capital city was marooned in floodwaters, claiming lives in the whole of the country. The Roshi River swelled to such a devastating form that the BP Highway constructed with Japanese assistance was also reduced to bits and pieces when the 2015 earthquake had not even caused a hair crack.
This year, the eastern part of Nepal was hit by heavy rain, which led to the death of 53 people overnight. Due to the early warning transmitted by the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology and its execution by the government, the deaths were far less this year than last year, in which case an early warning system had been announced but was not implemented effectively.
This is the case of the natural disasters. The political disaster caused by infiltrators during the Gen Z movement in September has pushed the country decades back with arson and looting carried out in the Parliament building, the Supreme Court, the historic Secretariat, the Singha Durbar, along with other government and private buildings.
The loss incurred to crops alone during the recent floods is estimated to be Rs 6 billion. As if this was not enough, the Tarai, in particular, will soon face a cold wave as it has been doing for almost a decade now. Earlier, it used to enjoy bright sunshine during winter due to which people from Kathmandu descended to the plains to evade the chilling cold of Kathmandu.
It used to be so cold that schools closed for 50 days, which was known as Meenpachash in the local language, which meant that even the fishes felt cold during that period. This month has been far colder than last year in neighbouring India, and forecasts have it that the forthcoming winter will be colder than its predecessors. This will certainly spill into the adjoining Tarai.
The cold wave begins in November, reaches its pinnacle in December, and continues till February, lasting 26 to 56 days. What is alarming is that these days have been increasing since 2004 onwards, slowly but steadily. The biggest culprit is the fog which is formed due to the accumulation of small water drops that reduce the visibility to less than 1,000 meters. It prevents the sun rays from hitting the ground, resulting in considerable slump in the temperature.
The pollution further worsens this phenomenon, like two tigers hunting in a pair, together with the smog due to the presence of particulate matters. It can be so devastating that a disaster data base DisInventor has mentioned that some 821 people died between 1990 and 2015 due to the cold wave in Nepal with 724 in the Tarai alone. What is worrying is that the death rates have been increasing since 2000.
The cold wave not only creates inconvenience to the people but also leads to heavy loss in agriculture, which is the backbone of the Tarai and also of Nepal. No wonder then that it is also known as the food basket of the country. Potato, tomato, brinjal, wheat, chili, onion, and beans are the major crops affected by fog and the cold wave in the Tarai. Late blight, a devastating and fast spreading plant disease, hits tomatoes and potatoes, and to prevent it, farmers spray more chemicals, which increases the cost of cultivation considerably.
Moreover, livestock is also adversely affected, resulting in reduced milk production by 25 to even 50 per cent. Goats suffer from respiratory disease. The workers do not feel like working on the farm, and thus labour productivity also slumps significantly.
The local government provides firewood to keep people warm especially in the city and villages hubs. Donors like Nepal Red Cross Society are seen distributing blankets. People are also advised to keep themselves warm by covering themselves with thick blankets and drinking lots of fluid. But these inverventions are generally too little and too late, and they do not cover all the affected people. At times, only the rich people have access to such relief due to their political influence.
It can be seen from the above that the cold wave is created primarliry due to two reasons. Firstly, it is owing to the pollution and secondly due to drop in the temperature. The pollution can be controlled to a great extent by erecting snake plant enclosed bamboo plastic towers. The convectional currents help the plants covert carbon dioxide to oxygen at a higher speed. Moreover, they also absorb particulate matters like PM2.5 and PM10 that create pollution.
The buildings' interior can be made warm through thermal retrofitting using a cost-effective air gap enclosed double bamboo partition. This technolgy covers the wall and the ceiling surface by a split bamboo pannel with a half inch air gap in between. It acts as a heat insulating material, keeping the interior warm during the cold winter and cool during the hot summer. The use of this technology in galvanised iron sheet temporary shelters, which was unbearably cold in winter and hot in summer in Jajarkot, resulted in a very comfortable environment. In fact, this retrofit can also be very helpful in the forthcoming summer, which is likely to be much hotter than the last summer, particularly in the Tarai. The implementation of these twin low-cost measures can help people evade the cold wave sweeping across the country.