The suspension bridge collapse in east Surkhet on Sunday in which 17 fair-goers were confirmed dead and 33 injured (by yesterday afternoon’s count) is a sufficient cause for national shock and grief. To make the tragedy even more heart-rending, scores of people are still missing after the bridge, inaugurated last year, gave way over the Bheri River because of excessive load. Some 120 people have swum to safety or been rescued, but most or all of those not rescued yet are presumed dead. It might take days to form a rough estimate of the magnitude of the disaster, as the rescue operations continue. A suspension bridge, by its nature, cannot take heavy loads; it is meant for light human traffic. Several hundred people were crossing the bridge at the same time. As it was the season of Poornima mela (a yearly fair), people of all ages from even neighbouring villages were thronging to the event in thousands, and the casualties consisted mainly of women, children and the elderly, because they were less likely to swim to safety.

The home ministry has in a press statement expressed grief over the disaster and sent condolences to the bereaved. Other political leaders may follow suit. The local administration or the government may even announce some specified amount of cash compensation per dead or injured person. Does the matter rest at that? No. First of all, rescue operations should go on in full swing, making the status of the missing public as soon as possible, trying,

even hoping against hope, to rescue the last living victim; the injured should be given proper medical treatment at government expense; and adequate relief should be delivered to the families of the dead as well as to the injured. These are the first things that any government is expected to do once any disaster of this nature strikes. But the government’s

duty should not end with this, unlike what has often happened in the past.

In Nepal, government officials are rarely asked

to account for their actions or non-actions. If members of the public, because of the negligence or

incompetence of public agencies or their particular officials, suffer loss of some kind, it is the sufferers

or their families who have to fend for themselves — those who caused the loss can go scot-free, without having to pay any compensation. Such negligence can range from minor to major cases. Suppose, if

the water authority leaves a manhole open and somebody falls into it, breaking a leg; or if the

road department that leaves the dug-up portion of the road untended, and a motorcyclist crashes into

it, losing his life; then the guilty do not have to pay for their negligence. But the process of making them

pay has to start without delay if a sense of public responsibility is to be instilled into them. This applies to the suspension bridge tragedy, too. Everybody knew that during the fair, traffic would be heavy across the bridge, and the local authorities concerned should have regulated it to prevent the possibility of disaster. But this was not done. An inquiry, therefore, needs to be instituted into the catastrophe and accountability extracted.