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🇳🇵 Nepal /Disasters & Emergencies

Nepal weighing options to relocate Bhotekoshi flood survivors

From Kathmandu Post · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Nepal is assessing safer locations for communities displaced by the August 26 Bhotekoshi flood, which destroyed about 15 settlements across Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading.
  • The National Planning Commission is preparing a reconstruction master plan and a post-disaster needs assessment, while authorities map settlements considered unsafe.
  • The disaster destroyed 8,317 homes, and officials say rebuilding in some affected areas may be impractical because of continuing flood risks.

Nepal is considering moving entire communities to safer ground after the August 26 Bhotekoshi flood destroyed around 15 settlements across Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading. The disaster devastated places where people had lived for decades, leaving authorities to weigh relocation against the loss of established homes and livelihoods.

The National Planning Commission has started work on a comprehensive master plan covering damaged infrastructure, safer settlements and longer-term development in the flood-hit areas. NPC Vice-Chair Gunakar Bhatta said the commission was also preparing a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment.

Rasuwa and Nuwakot suffered the heaviest damage, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. A preliminary assessment found about 1.6 million people directly affected across 15 local units. Floodwater and debris destroyed settlements and market areas in several locations, including Rasuwagadhi, Timure, Syafrubesi, Hakubesi, Bidur, Trishuli Bazar and Devighat. Nuwakot and Rasuwa together accounted for much of the destruction, with 8,317 houses reported destroyed.

Along with rebuilding damaged infrastructure, we will prepare a master plan for settlement development and an overall development of the affected areas.

· Gunakar BhattaThe National Planning Commission vice-chair described the scope of the planned reconstruction strategy.

The Ministry of Infrastructure Development said restoring roads and bridges would come first, to reconnect the affected areas with the wider transport network. Officials would then plan new settlements. Secretary Gopal Prasad Sigdel said the long-term objective was to establish communities outside flood-risk zones. The reconstruction plan will determine whether displaced families receive grants to build homes themselves or whether the government constructs housing.

Authorities are mapping settlements that may no longer be habitable while continuing search and rescue operations and providing temporary shelter, relief, medical care and counselling. The preferred option under consideration is to acquire government land in safer areas and establish new settlements, although moving communities away from their land and livelihoods could prove unsuitable, particularly in light of experience from past disasters.

The long-term plan will be to establish settlements in areas outside the flood-risk zones.

· Gopal Prasad SigdelThe Infrastructure Development Ministry secretary outlined the government’s proposed approach to relocation.
About this summary

Originally published by Kathmandu Post. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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