Life After Disaster: Flood-Affected People Start Managing Whatever Remains Of Their Goods And Property

The swollen rivers in the Kathmandu Valley wreaked havoc in the downstream areas following incessant rains since Friday. The rain stopped only towards afternoon on Sunday and by the time the downpour stopped it had caused much damage, flooding swathes of land, inundating settlements and washing away structures.

The settlements near the bank of the Nakhkhukhola rivulet that flows through Tika Bhairab in Lalitpur were submerged in the flooding caused by the surging water in the river. The swollen river left a trail of destruction on its path. People's homes, shops and dwellings were all waterlogged. The normal life, trade and business in many places of the district are still in chaos after the disaster.

The flooded rivers washed away the shelters at settlements near the rivers and all the household goods inside them.

With the flood subsiding, the hapless flood victims have started managing whatever remains of their household goods that are drenched. They are busy clearing the mud, silt and debris that has deposited in their rooms, shops and the house compound.
Many of the victims lamented that the flood washed away their motorbikes, cars and household articles like refrigerators, furniture and valuables as well as important documents.

Renuka Limbu who lives near the Nakhkhupul at Lalitpur Metropolitan City-18 lamented that the flooded stream swept away her six pigs and 70 ducks and chicken.

"The water entered our room at 12 midnight on Friday. We started removing out the goods and articles soon after the flood water entered our house. The water surged as we were still moving out goods from the house and by 7 am on Saturday, the flood washed away our entire shelter. Not only to ours, has the flood caused much damage to the houses and sheds of other people as well," she said.

The bridge linking Nakhkhudol at Lalitpur Metropolitan City -14 and Bhainsepati, ward no 25 of the metropolis has been closed after it was damaged by the flood.

The temporary sheds of those living close to the Nakhhudol Bridge have all been washed away by the flood.

The disaster-hit people in the area are now busy collecting, cleaning and managing whatever goods that they can find with the help of their relatives.

A local Rom Rana said the flood washed away his entire nursery and all the goods inside his shed, causing a loss of approximately Rs 1.3 million.

"We were alert that there might be a flood after listening to the news, but we had no time to move all our goods to safer place. Once the water started entering our room, we only had time to collect the important documents and all the other household articles were swept away. Now we are worried about our food and accommodation. We are in distress," he said.

The swollen Nakhkhukhola rivulet has swept away five shops run at makeshift sheds at Nakhkhudol.

Narayan Sunuwar, whose shop was washed away by the flooded rivulet, is in distress. "I am a wage labourer. The flood took away all the goods and all my tools. I have nowhere to go, no food. I have been rendered homeless. No relief has come from anywhere so far. Although I saved my life, all my clothes, goods and belongings have been washed away by flood," he lamented.

Ganesh KC, the ward chair of Lalitpur metropolis-13, said that the local government will immediately get down to managing the power and water supply, and roads and other structures damaged by the flood.

"We are extremely sad over the damage caused by the Nakhkhukhola. We have already swung into action for restoring electricity and water supply and the roads in the affected areas, giving utmost priority to this task," he said.

NEA working vigorously to restore power supply
Meanwhile, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has said it is making maximum efforts to restore regular power supply to the areas where it has been disrupted due to the incessant rain that lashed the district on September 27 and 28. Electricity supply to most places in Lalitpur district was disrupted plunging these areas into darkness after the landslides and floods knocked down electricity poles and cables.

NEA said that although power supply to Kathmandu and Bhaktapur has been restored, repair and maintenance of the power supply system to the rural areas of Lalitpur continued. Bijaya Mahato, Chief of the NEA Lagankhel Distribution Centre, said that the repair and maintenance of the power supply system has been difficult and delayed at many places due to the disruption of roads to these places.

According to NEA spokesperson Chandan Kumar Ghosh, adequate workforce has been mobilized for carrying out the repair and maintenance works and power would be restored to many places by the evening today.

Bhaktapur flood-affected busy clearing debris
The people in areas that suffered flooding in Bhaktapur are busy clearing and cleaning their houses of flood debris.

The areas are full of wreckage and debris. The people are removing the mud and silt from inside the rooms on the ground floor, taking out the goods and kitchenware from the kitchen, the food grain, lentils and other food stuffs that have become inedible, the wet furniture, beddings, clothes, TV sets, refrigerators, carpets and other articles.

One can see these articles outside on the house courtyards covered with mud. People can be seen pumping out the accumulated water from the eateries, groceries, stores, electronics shops, furniture workshops and show rooms and cloth stores mostly operated on the ground floor. Goods that have been damaged can be seen dried outside the shops.

Even today, the flood-affected people at Radhe Radhe of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality, Balkot of Surya Binayak Municipality, Gadedharatol and Sipadol of Dadhikot and various other flood-hit areas in Bhaktapur can be seen cleaning their shops and dwellings of water and mud.

Efforts are under way even today to open the road blocked by a hundred fallen trees due to the landslides at Sipadol, Gundu and Dadhikot, among other places.

Chief District Officer Roshani Kumari Shrestha said works are on to protect the houses that are vulnerable. She shared that works are being carried out to open the rural roads and transit points, nut the main road transit point at Sanga is not closed and it is fully operational.

CDO Shrestha said the District Administration is collecting the details of the damage caused to houses, sheds and business areas by the flooding and landslides. She added that the local levels and the District Chamber of Commerce and Industries are also collecting data on the damage and losses caused by the disaster.
Distribution of relief to the disaster victims has also been started with the help of the Red Cross.