At least 132 people have lost their lives in about 445 incidents of landslides, flash floods, and other floods triggered by incessant rainfall in the past 40 days, in Nepal.
As per the natural calamity statistics recorded by Nepal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority till yesterday, at least 132 people had lost their lives whereas 53 were missing, and 128 were reported to be injured. Around a thousand families have been directly affected since the monsoon season started in Nepal.
This year the monsoon season hit the mountainous country last month. By now this has triggered incidents like floods and landslides in 70 of the 77 districts in the country.
The Government of Nepal is yet to ascertain loss of properties in the incidents. This calculation is expected to rise on further as incidents of calamities have increased this year in comparison to previous year records.
As per the record of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, last year in the first 40 days of the monsoon season, only 48 people had lost their lives but the number this year increased by almost 3 times for the same considered time duration.
Landslides over major highways in various parts of the nation has disrupted life as the road connecting Kathmandu with other districts is still struggling to start its track activities. People living alongside the highway have been rendered homeless.
"There's no condition to go up there. My house now is surrounded by a stream making it totally inaccessible. Previously it was just a small stream," said Ramkumar Ghalan to , a highway-side resident in Chitwan whose house is now surrounded by a downward stream of the flash floods.
In the past 10 years, Nepal has recorded 4,500 cases of landslides, flash floods, avalanches and heavy rainfall incidents in which a total of 1,952 people have lost their lives. It has also been estimated that maximum property has been destroyed.
In a span of 10 years, 19 major incidents of avalanches have been recorded by the government. These incidents reportedly claimed the lives of 40 people.
Nepal's Department of Meteorology and Hydrology has issued a warning of heavy rainfall in the coming days as the monsoon season is slated to last for an additional 60 days. This bears the potential capacity to aggravate the situation around the nation.
( With inputs from ANI )