Nepal’s devastating flood exposes the risks of resettling disaster survivors

KHALTE, Nepal (AP) — When the flood came, Chheku Lama ran uphill, shouting for people to flee. A group followed him, but none survived, he said.

Lama's Khalte village in Nepal’s Rasuwa district had been set up as a temporary settlement after a 2015 earthquake destroyed nearby villages. But it offered little protection from floods, with homes clustered along the Trishuli River in a narrow valley.

When the floodwaters surged through on Aug. 26, residents had few routes to escape. At least 375 people were reported missing, according to residents. The village was wiped out.

Nepal is still recovering from the devastating floods that killed more than 1,400 people and left thousands missing in its mountainous border region with China. Another flash flood in north-central Nepal last week left at least five people missing.

Over the past decade, tens of thousands of people in Nepal have been displaced by earthquakes, landslides and floods, only to face new risks in temporary settlements built in vulnerable areas. Khalte’s destruction highlights those dangers. Survivors say the government must go beyond emergency relief and temporary shelter to provide safe, permanent places where displaced people can rebuild their lives.

The 2015 earthquake, which killed nearly 9,000 people nationwide, destroyed villages where many families had lived for generations. Under a government relocation plan, about 257 vulnerable households were moved to Khalte, which geological assessments later classified as a “red zone” because of landslide and avalanche risks.

Bam Bahadur Tamang, a Khalte resident now living in a government relief center, said he and many others had opposed the decision to resettle them there but they were eventually forced to move. He said any new relocation must account for both safety and access to basic services.

“Wherever the government resettles us now, it must first ensure that the place is safe,” he said. “We are not cattle to be moved from one place to another.”

Tamang’s worries point to a challenge that extends beyond finding safe ground. Displaced families also need access to schools, healthcare, roads and livelihoods if a temporary settlement is to become a viable home.

Nepal's government says it plans to build a new city for flood victims, with industries, hospitals and schools, and that displaced residents would not be sent back to settlements destroyed by the flood. It is also considering involving private developers in reconstruction, including a model in which they build homes in cooperation with landowners.

Dharam Raj Uprety, chief executive of Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, said the government was identifying land for settlements in safe areas. Experts would assess land use, and flood-prone areas could be declared uninhabitable, he said. The government could also convert vulnerable riverbanks into forest land and build homes on safer ground.

Uprety stressed, however, that agencies responsible for infrastructure and urban planning need to coordinate more closely.

“The disaster authority cannot do all of that work itself. Its role is largely to coordinate and create an environment in which other agencies incorporate disaster risk into their planning,” he said.

Nepal has previously taken steps to reduce flood risks, including river monitoring, early-warning systems and community preparedness. But its remote mountain valleys remain at risk of sudden floods caused by landslides and glacial lake outbursts.

Scientists warn that rising temperatures and increasingly unstable mountain landscapes make better monitoring and stronger early-warning systems ever more important for Nepal.

For Khalte’s survivors the question of where to rebuild remains unresolved. Many are reluctant to return to places where they lost family members, saying a new relocation plan may do little to reassure them.

Norchi Ghale survived both the 2015 earthquake and the August floods, but suffered devastating losses, losing his father in the earthquake and his mother and wife in the floods.

Before the flood, he owned a small plot of farmland in Khalte, where he raised cattle that provided his family’s main source of income. When he recently returned, he could no longer recognize where anything had once stood.

“I could not even trace where things used to be, just like my future now. I don’t know where I will go or how I will raise my children," he said.

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Saaliq reported from New Delhi.