Toddler buried by landslide in Kavre

BANEPA, Aug 9: A toddler has died in Kavre after being buried by landslide on Wednesday morning.

Deceased has been identified as thirteen months old Deepak Tamang of Mandandeupur Municipality-10, Tinsaura. His father Hemanta and mother Sita were successfully rescued from their makeshift tent. They have sustained minor injuries.

Raviraj Khadka, chief of Kavre Police, informed Republica that continuous rainfall since Tuesday caused a huge mound of earth to fall into the tent resulting in the incident. Reportedly, the landslide struck at around 2 am in the morning.

The landslide also destroyed four more huts in the nearby area. Meanwhile, 18 families have been forced to shelter in the houses of their relatives and at local school buildings due to the fear of landslide, according to Ram Bahadur Tamang, chairperson of Land Rights Forum.

"Earlier, the locals living in Tinsaura were relocated to a different place after earthquake. Later, a team of National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) had inspected their land but were not listed as beneficiaries for the government grant," said Tamang. This forced them to return to their previous place despite the risk.

Mandadeupur-10, formerly known as Chandani VDC, has sustained massive damages by the catastrophic earthquake of 2015. As most of the places here had developed cracks, locals were warned not to build homes in the same land. However, people neglected this warning and continued living there.

"An innocent child would not have had to lose his life if the responsible authorities had taken efforts to rehabilitate and relocate the settlements under risk," Tamang said.

Earlier, seven households of Sarbajhang and nine of Dharapani were shifted to a safer place but they too were forced to return back to the same landslide-prone area after their names could not be listed as beneficiaries. "These two settlements also have high risk of landslide and need immediate relocation," Tamang added.

Meanwhile, 63 households from various communities of Bhumlu Rural Municipality-1 are being temporarily relocated to schools and other safer areas to escape landslide, according to Dolalghat Police.