Former Reconstruction Authority chief urges Nepal to create a permanent, powerful disaster ministry

The August 26 floods along Nepal’s Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river systems have created a disaster that differs sharply from the 2015 earthquakes, former National Reconstruction Authority chief Govinda Raj Pokharel says. Public repair costs may be lower this time, but private losses have reached a far more devastating scale.

A decade ago, a typical house in the mountain valleys might have been worth about 1 million rupees. Today, the same areas contain modern buildings worth tens of millions. Hydropower projects, large hotels, factories and businesses along the highway have been swept away, exposing the immense financial risk carried by private citizens and companies.

The greatest difference, Pokharel says, lies beneath the destruction. The 2015 earthquakes damaged homes but left most plots of land intact. The floods have washed away the earth itself, leaving barren riverbeds where communities once stood. Resettlement therefore cannot rely simply on distributing construction materials. Officials must identify new, stable land and move entire communities.

That process demands technical judgment as well as economic realism. During the post-earthquake recovery, authorities promised residents who moved to Khalte that they could build there if experts declared the ground safe. When technical assessments found the site unsafe, residents had to relocate again. Pokharel presents that experience as a warning for the latest disaster, where rebuilding in the wrong place could compound the risks.

The description of his interview also highlights his calls for strict infrastructure codes, early-warning cooperation with China and India, and a rapid move toward high-altitude Himalayan solar energy. He argues that Nepal needs a permanent and powerful disaster ministry rather than a temporary reconstruction authority.