Natural disasters: Does Nepal ever learn?

October 2, 2024

KATHMANDU – According to police reports, by Monday evening, the freak monsoon downpour and the resultant flooding and mudslides over the weekend have claimed over 200 lives. About 127 people have been injured, and 56 are still missing. The government claims that some 4,022 stranded people on the damaged highways and flooded zones across Nepal have been successfully rescued. There are no official figures on the loss of lives and properties in the Kathmandu Valley and beyond.

Yet, every patch of dark cloud in the sky seems ominous. Weather experts have warned of more heavy rains in the coming days. However, what is most worrying is the government’s lack of preparedness. Returning from the UN General Assembly Meeting in the United States on Monday, Prime Minister Khadka Prasad Sharma Oli said that he hadn’t even imagined this level of flooding in Kathmandu.

A national disaster

People call this a natural disaster; I’d rather call it a national disaster of epic proportions. The government, led by a coalition of the two largest parties—the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist)—miserably failed to not only protect people’s lives but also, according to its admission, to coordinate the resources and manpower to save them.

Even Balen Shah, the Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, who has made quite a name for himself by doing some remarkable works in the capital city, failed to mobilise his offices. He announced the dispatch of 300 city police personnel only after the river systems here had flooded tremendously and claimed some lives. How pathetic!

True, he may not be able to do much in such an unplanned and unmanaged capital town. He has done his best to destroy some