The floods and landslides are caused by the rains gushing downstream from the hill top. If a part of the rainfall can be parked in the hills, then the probability of landslides and floods slumps heavily. The digging of ponds from a little below the mountain tops on either side of the gullies can create this wonder
The heavens are going to open wider than usual this year in Nepal, according to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology.
Consequently, it is going to rain cats and dogs in quick succession. As a result, it will trigger a wave of landslides in the hilly and mountain belts followed by floods in the Tarai. This will spark yet another crisis, leading to the colossal loss of human lives and property throughout the country.
Last year, 420 persons ascended to their heavenly abode due to disasters, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.
Of these, landslides, floods, lightning, fires, animal attacks and wild forest fires claimed 178, 63, 49, 39, 33 and 3 lives respectively.
The remaining 55 fell victim to other disasters.
The most shocking was the Melamchi Drinking Water Project, lying in tatters just when it had started to deliver services after three decades of patient waiting in March 2021.
However, it came to a premature end on June 2021 due to a massive landslides and floods. The devastation was so catastrophic that water supply was inter-rupted for almost a year barely 4 months of its service.
It was briefly opened from April this year, which again had to be closed at May end following the likelihood of further damage by the forthcoming monsoon rains. It is now expected to come back into action only by October.
Similarly, Chame, the headquarters of Manang district, had a similar fate due to the deluge on June28, 2021 due to which five houses were completely, enveloped by the debris flow. A hundred families had to be displaced from their place of stay.
It is just a matter of time before the nation will have to bear the shock of a similar deja vu this year. Our projects are vulnerable because of their location in steep areas, which cannot be wished out of existence given the presence of 83 per cent of steep terrain and the remaining 17 per cent plains in the country.
Nepal has been facing untold sufferings like these since time immemorial.
Nepal did precisely little in the past as the disasters were considered as the acts of God. The earlier Natural Calamity Act was translated as Devine Incidents Rescue Act in Nepali. It later dawned, albeit lately, thatthe Almighty had no hand in the occurrence of disasters.
Accordingly, the new Act has been named as Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act.
Not only was a new Act put in place, a new authority entitled National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority has also been established, which has the mandate ofaddressing disaster situations in the country.
Though this Authority has taken some substantial steps despite being in its infancy, they have proved Lilliputians in front of the giant-like disasters.
The only answer to facing better in the wake of disasters is certainly preparedness.
But it has been very inadequate given the awesome size of the disas-ters in the country. The preparedness also has been stereotyped in the form of protecting the embankments through the construction of gabion walls.
These walls are so under designed that they seldom last more than a year.
What is needed is innovation.
A new approach of responding to landslides and floods is necessary asthe customary method has been far from effective. A new approach has to be formulated understanding the cause of monsoon disasters in the country.
We cannot stop the rains from falling to the ground.
In fact, it is indispensable in an agricultural economy like Nepal. It contributed to 23.9 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product and employed 60.4 per cent of theNepalis last year. Monsoon rains are thus a blessing to the country. When there was no rain in 1980, national growth plummeted down to zero per cent. But when it rains in excess amounts, then it can be a bane in the form of landslides and floods. The blessing suddenly transforms into a curse.
The floods and landslides are caused by the rains gushing downstream from the hill top. If a part of the rainfall can be parked in the hills, then the probability of landslides and floods slumps heavily. The digging of ponds from a little below the mountain tops on either side of the gullies can create this wonder.
The number three killer – lightning – can be deviated away from the comparatively dry settlement to the forests made wet by the pond. The presence of ponds brimming with water can also provide water for extinguishing the fires engulfing the houses.
Moreover, the animals also revel in the ponds instead of going to the settlements in search of drinking water, leading to undesirable encounters with the people.
The ponds lower the temperature and raise the humidity thereby discouraging the wild forest fires.
What is more, these ponds create carbon sinks by dissolving the carbon dioxide of the air and forcing it to go underground.
The ponds are thus like a multi-headed heavyweight pugilist, which can give a bloody nose to all the disasters that Nepal faces from landslides to climate change. To highlight this, a meeting was held in the presence of all the 77 Chief District Officers at a function chaired by the Minister for Home Affairs and graced by the Home Secretary.
All the participants had agreed to initiate employment-generating ponds' construction that can be carried out with local skills and resources.
In the meantime, the local election cast such a spell on the whole of the country that all the individuals and institutions were virtually hooked to it. Now that the local elections are over, the local representatives should focus on this agenda for the prevention of monsoon disasters. Repetition of similar events will give the impression that the new leaders are no different from the earlier ones, giving credence to the Nepali proverb meaning all the hermits come with ears split.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 6, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.