KATHMANDU, Oct 3 (IPS) – Nepal is trying to recover from recent flash floods and landslides caused by heavy rains in the last weekend of September that killed at least 226 people. The center and east of the country, including the capital Kathmandu, experienced the heaviest monsoon rains in two decades from September 26 to 28, flooding many parts of Kathmandu. Experts say this is one of the deadliest and worst flash floods to hit thousands of people in decades.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) – facing intense backlash over its inability to act effectively to minimize losses – reported on Tuesday (October 1) that at least 25 people were still stranded or missing, while more than 150 were injured.
On September 28, the country’s 25 weather stations in 14 districts recorded new rainfall records within 24 hours. Kathmandu airport stations recorded 239.7 millimeters of rain. Before that, on July 23, 2002, 177 mm of rain had fallen. Flash floods caused by extreme rainfall quickly washed away entire neighborhoods, roads and bridges in Kathmandu and surrounding areas.
The heavy rains have swollen rivers in Kathmandu, including the Bagmati, which flows through the city, by more than 2 meters above safe levels. Senior journalist Yubaraj Ghimire – whose home was also flooded – wrote: “The disastrous hours of terror further confirmed the state’s incompetence in times of need.”
There were early warnings, but lives were lost!
Frustration is mounting not only because the country has failed to carry out effective rescue operations, but also because it has failed to act on the information available in advance about the coming disaster.
The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) issued a special weather bulletin at least five days earlier, warning the public of the threat of heavy rain that could lead to flooding and landslides.
In the bulletin, the DHM labeled districts red, orange, yellow and green, urging “Take Action,” “Be Prepared,” “Be Aware,” and “No Warning,” respectively.
Once again, the DHM issued another ‘special weather bulletin’ on September 25, this time labeling most parts of the country in red, or in the ‘Take action’ category.
As predicted it started to rain heavily; rivers started flowing with water levels higher than the safe limit.
“The information was there, but it doesn’t seem like it was taken seriously to be prepared,” said Dr. Ngamindra Dahal, who works on reducing the risk of disasters caused by climate change. “To minimize the impact, we need to take action based on the information we have, but that has not been the case in most parts.”
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli acknowledged that the government was unprepared for a disaster of this magnitude. At a press conference on Tuesday, Oli said: “Our preparation was not for this kind of condition. We did not expect this magnitude of rain, landslides and losses of people and infrastructure.”
But the weather agency DHM had warned in several messages and urged appropriate measures. Government agencies admit they were unable to communicate disaster-related information effectively.
Why couldn’t NDRRMA act quickly?
This time, weather information was accurate in most parts, but avoidable incidents still claimed lives.
“I was traveling, and what I can say is that although there was prior information, it was not translated into action,” Dahal added. “I think NDRRMA and other stakeholders could have done better to reduce the number of casualties.”
But the agency responsible for disaster risk reduction and management – NDRRMA – claims that it was due to their joint efforts with other stakeholders that human casualties were reduced.
“That information helped, and it’s thanks to us that things aren’t worse than this,” said Dr. Dijan Bhattrai, spokesperson for NDRRMA.
“In the case of Kathmandu, our urban environment is not capable of dealing with this type of disaster, and in other parts of the country it was a combination of intense rain and fragmented geological conditions resulting from the 2015 earthquake.”
Stakeholders have publicly acknowledged the role of river invasion and unplanned settlements in Kathmandu, and this problem is well known. However, due to this recent disaster, people are angry because they have noticed a clear gap between information and preparedness efforts.
“It is true that we were not well equipped to deal with this kind of situation in terms of resources and skilled manpower,” Bhattrai claimed. “We did our part and did what we could within our capabilities.”
Is this made worse by climate change?
In recent years, scientists have said that climate change is changing the amount and timing of rainfall in Asia. However, the impact of flooding has increased due to the built environment, including unplanned construction, especially on floodplains, leaving insufficient space for water retention and drainage.
A recent report published in Nature communication states that Asia’s exposure to extreme rain and flood risks will increase by 2030.
“There is certainly still much to be done in terms of effective disaster communications and action-oriented preparedness, but it is also a fact that these types of events are becoming more common as a result of climate change,” Bhattrai said. “We plan to present our case at the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) to secure more resources to deal with future disasters.”
IPS UN agency report
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