Nepal is the mountainous region with many high hills and mountains. It is much more difficult to carry out any activities due to its topography. Due to the geographical structure, it has been one of the vulnerable country for natural disasters in the world. Recently there has been the massive landslide in the hills above Jure village, upstream from the Sunkoshi River in the Sindhupalchowk district of Nepal, bordering China. In an instant 1.9 km long slope of the land perched 1350 m above the river bed and have destroyed many shelters and life of the people. Up to now more than 20 of the people have lost their life and this number is increasing, and also hundreds of them are missing.
The massive landslide has caused the formation of the long dam on the Sunkoshi River due to the downstream movement. Due to this the flow of the water in the river has been stopped and there is formation of the large lake behind the dam. The accumulation of the huge amount of water in the dam has created fear for the outburst of the dam thereby leading the heavy flood affecting thousands of people in the downstream. According to the Nepal government officials, the risk of the outburst was tried to reduce by the two blasts carried out but still the outburst is high to cause. It has affected the people from the area of the occurrence to the whole downstream. The area downstream was declared as a potential crisis zone by the government of both Nepal and India.
It has been heard that the Nepal government has asked the Indian government to open all the 56 gates of the Koshi barrage in the Nepal-India border and had informed them about the potential threat to the areas in the Bihar. This massive landslide has affected not only to the Nepal but also the both neighboring countries China and India. The main highway that joins Nepal with China has been blocked which has caused serious effect in the trade between two countries, which has caused the great loss in the economy besides the direct loss from the landslides.
At the current situation the most important thing is to tackle with the crisis and of course it cannot be done with the single efforts so all the people and experts from the country along with the help of the neighboring country the problem should be tackled promptly otherwise it would bring more devastation. The natural hazards cannot be controlled but can be reduce and mitigate by adapting different methods and new technology of risk reduction. So all the levels including local to national with international help should join hands together to eliminate this problem and save the life of more people and also great further economic loss.
6 Comments
Of course Nepal is vulnerable to such calamities. We all know about it. So we must give more priority to early warning system. EWS would help to save the life of people EWSs always work as risk mitigation tools by acting on the exposure of the elements at risk, especially people, by keeping them away from the dangerous area in case of expectation of an imminent collapse.
Posted 18-08-2014 18:42
R.I.P. for the victims of the landslides... I agree with your opinion, human can't fully control the natural disaster but we can take preventive measures to mitigate its impact. And that's what we must do.
Posted 13-08-2014 10:11
Yes, this is a big issue - not only in Nepal, but all around the world. Thanks for sharing.
Posted 11-08-2014 15:19
Ya Raunak lets hope the problem will be solved with the joint work of both of the countries and the further loss will be minimize as soon as possible.
Posted 10-08-2014 14:31
The landslides occur because of deforestation. It is indeed a grim situation Sunil. I hope with joint co-operation of India & Nepal the threat can be diluted.
Posted 09-08-2014 18:47
It was a current situation of Nepal. so, we all have to think about it.
Posted 07-08-2014 22:27