Nepal faces a difficult choice over resettling communities swept away by floods

Nepal is beginning the difficult task of relocating communities after flash floods destroyed 8,317 homes in 15 settlements across the Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading districts. The disaster directly affected 1.6 million people.

The immediate recovery priorities are restoring roads and bridges, finding temporary shelter, and supplying drinking water and electricity. Dharma Raj Upreti, head of Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, put the estimated damage at $2.56 billion. The initial recovery phase is expected to last four months and require $52.6 million, according to Reuters.

The government’s preferred option is to use public land in areas considered safe and build new housing there. Other possibilities include moving settlements to another district or finding safer vacant land within the affected districts. Nepal is also mapping areas that may no longer be suitable for habitation while continuing search, rescue and temporary shelter efforts.

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In the long term, we will build residential areas in places outside flood-prone zones. A detailed reconstruction plan will determine whether families receive money to build their own homes or whether the government builds homes for them.

Gopal Prasad Sigdel, deputy minister at Nepal’s Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, said the long-term plan would place communities outside flood-risk areas. “In the long term, we will build residential areas in places outside flood-prone zones. A detailed reconstruction plan will determine whether families receive money to build their own homes or whether the government builds homes for them,” he said.

Relocation cannot focus only on housing. Nepal has faced similar decisions after the 1993 floods and the 2015 earthquake. Experts say plans must account for livelihoods, social ties and future disaster risks, which could also help the country attract international financing. Former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai warned that moving people hundreds of kilometers from homes occupied for generations is unrealistic because their lifestyles, livelihoods and incomes remain tied to those places. Nepal is therefore looking for safer locations closer to established communities.

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People have lived in these areas for generations. Their lifestyles, livelihoods and incomes are closely tied to where they live. Safer areas need to be identified nearby.