Monsoon calamities affect 36,700 households

Kathmandu, July 20: The rain and floods since July 11 afternoon that claimed the life of  90 people, have affected more than 36,700 households in 15 districts so far.

About 9,948 houses in eight districts have been completely damaged in the floods and landslides, according to the recent situation report of the National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA).

The disaster damaged the largest number of houses in Siraha and Mahottari district of State 2 where 5326 and 4562 houses are completely damaged. A large number of houses in these districts are still inundated.

Other districts witnessing complete house damage are Dhankuta, Udayapur, Bhojpur, Sunsari, Dang and Dhading.

Similarly, about 19,871 houses in six districts are partially damaged in the floods. More than 10,000 houses have been damaged in Siraha alone which is followed by Mahottari 7,963 and Udayapur 1,573 houses.

Likewise, 5,873 houses are partially affected.

The floods and inundation have temporarily displaced 13,101 households in 12 districts. Except Khotang and Dhankuta, no hill district has experiences severe human casualties or property damage. NEOC data show that the districts in State 2 are the most affected ones.

Temporarily displacement numbers are also high in State 2 districts – Siraha, Sarlahi, Bara, Rautahat and Parsa. Morang is the district that witnessed higher number of casualties and displacement in Province 1.

In addition to the death of 90 people, 29 disappeared and 41 injured in the monsoon disasters.

Highest number of casualties happened in Rautahat,Siraha, Lalitpur, Morang and Dolpa districts. Ten people died in the floods, one disappeared and five injured in Rautahat while six each were killed in Siraha and Lalitpur, and five in Morang.

Dolpa is the only mountainous ( himali) district which witnessed high casualties in the monsoon disaster. Four were died and seven disappeared in floods and landslides there.

Other districts having high number of death are Okhaldhunga, Mahottari, Kathmandu, Parsa, Kavrepalanchok, Jhapa and Khotang.

National Disaster Reduction and Management Executive Committee at the Disaster Precaution and Action Section at the MoHA has directed all the government and non-government agencies working in the humanitarian field to make the rescue and relief of the affected persons, families and communities and arrange safe shelter.

Published in The Rising Nepal Daily on 21 July 2019.