Ahana Shreshta, Grade 11
UWC Costa Rica
Natural disasters wreak havoc around Nepal each year. Floods, landslides, droughts, avalanches, and earthquakes ravage the country, leaving behind death and devastation in its wake. According to a study conducted by the Earthquake Safe Communities Nepal (ENST, each year, an average of 593 natural disasters are recorded in Nepal causing the loss of thousands of lives and destruction of huge amounts of properties all over the country. These disasters alone have triggered over 43,000 deaths, affected 8 million people (almost one-third of the population), and caused Rs. 7 trillion in damages in the past 45 years, putting Nepal in the top 20 most disaster-prone countries in the world.
But despite the heavy losses Nepal incurs each year due to this, nothing changes. Each year, as the worst passes, we hope… we hope that next year will be better - that fewer lives are lost, and more people are left with their homes intact. And each year, we are disappointed. As the month of July approaches, we watch in silence as the river swells and the land beneath our houses give way, washing our crops and destroying the homes we had rebuilt once again.
With the onset of the monsoon, floods and landslides are common in Nepal. Nepal’s lack of a proper disaster management system, coupled with land encroachment and deforestation is a deadly combination with severe consequences which, on average, displaces over 80,000 people and compromises the food security of 176,800 people each year (ReliefWeb, 2019). Nepal, being an agricultural country where over 60% of the population is engaged in that sphere, relies heavily on these crops to sustain themselves and make a living. Farmers work painstakingly each day, many trekking long hours to reach their fields, just to watch helplessly as the government’s negligence destroys what they had worked so hard for the past year.
Recovery mechanisms from disasters are also severely lacking. The 2015 Nepal earthquake devastated Nepal. It killed almost 9000 people, injured 22,000, and destroyed over millions of buildings across Nepal. It has since been five years, and we still have not recovered. Over 100,000 people still live in tents and temporary shelters as reconstruction work has not finished. As you stroll along with the Durbar Squares, it is not uncommon to see wooden beams propped against houses for support. It is not uncommon to see empty, blank spaces where our holy temples, so rich in culture and history, used to stand. It is not uncommon to pass by buildings that have spidery cracks and sizable chunks of bricks missing. The earthquake left a huge scar in Nepal, one which we are yet to recover from.
It is not enough to hope or pray anymore. This is the time where concrete action needs to be taken. The government’s efforts are focused more on addressing the aftermath rather than its prevention. Any little efforts they do carry out are usually uncoordinated and underfunded too. For a meaningful and sustainable solution, the root of natural disasters like floods and landslides must be addressed. Excavation of riverbed materials and deforestation in flood and landslide-prone areas must be stopped. Efforts should be taken to discourage encroachment of river banks and install early warning systems in villages.
Nepal should also efficiently capitalize on the relief and aid other countries like Japan, China, France, USA, etc. have provided during times of disasters. These funds should be used to increase investment in projects that work towards disaster management. There are already some ADB and World Bank-funded projects in Nepal which seek to upgrade food and food security, as well as refine the response towards natural disasters. Similarly, investing in other projects that aim to improve the conditions of vulnerable populations from disasters will be very efficient in the long run for disaster management.
The road to responding efficiently in times of crisis is hard and long. There is no easy answer or any sure-fast way to combat this problem; however, we all need to start somewhere. It is imperative that we start taking action now; otherwise, next year, people will once again suffer.
But despite the heavy losses Nepal incurs each year due to this, nothing changes. Each year, as the worst passes, we hope… we hope that next year will be better - that fewer lives are lost, and more people are left with their homes intact. And each year, we are disappointed. As the month of July approaches, we watch in silence as the river swells and the land beneath our houses give way, washing our crops and destroying the homes we had rebuilt once again.
With the onset of the monsoon, floods and landslides are common in Nepal. Nepal’s lack of a proper disaster management system, coupled with land encroachment and deforestation is a deadly combination with severe consequences which, on average, displaces over 80,000 people and compromises the food security of 176,800 people each year (ReliefWeb, 2019). Nepal, being an agricultural country where over 60% of the population is engaged in that sphere, relies heavily on these crops to sustain themselves and make a living. Farmers work painstakingly each day, many trekking long hours to reach their fields, just to watch helplessly as the government’s negligence destroys what they had worked so hard for the past year.
Recovery mechanisms from disasters are also severely lacking. The 2015 Nepal earthquake devastated Nepal. It killed almost 9000 people, injured 22,000, and destroyed over millions of buildings across Nepal. It has since been five years, and we still have not recovered. Over 100,000 people still live in tents and temporary shelters as reconstruction work has not finished. As you stroll along with the Durbar Squares, it is not uncommon to see wooden beams propped against houses for support. It is not uncommon to see empty, blank spaces where our holy temples, so rich in culture and history, used to stand. It is not uncommon to pass by buildings that have spidery cracks and sizable chunks of bricks missing. The earthquake left a huge scar in Nepal, one which we are yet to recover from.
It is not enough to hope or pray anymore. This is the time where concrete action needs to be taken. The government’s efforts are focused more on addressing the aftermath rather than its prevention. Any little efforts they do carry out are usually uncoordinated and underfunded too. For a meaningful and sustainable solution, the root of natural disasters like floods and landslides must be addressed. Excavation of riverbed materials and deforestation in flood and landslide-prone areas must be stopped. Efforts should be taken to discourage encroachment of river banks and install early warning systems in villages.
Nepal should also efficiently capitalize on the relief and aid other countries like Japan, China, France, USA, etc. have provided during times of disasters. These funds should be used to increase investment in projects that work towards disaster management. There are already some ADB and World Bank-funded projects in Nepal which seek to upgrade food and food security, as well as refine the response towards natural disasters. Similarly, investing in other projects that aim to improve the conditions of vulnerable populations from disasters will be very efficient in the long run for disaster management.
The road to responding efficiently in times of crisis is hard and long. There is no easy answer or any sure-fast way to combat this problem; however, we all need to start somewhere. It is imperative that we start taking action now; otherwise, next year, people will once again suffer.
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