"I have been displaced by floods five times in the past," he said.
Two years ago, flooding in the Kankai River inundated his home. He took temporary refuge at Saranamati School and returned to his village to reconstruct his home only after a few weeks.
"My house was swept away by last year's flood," he said, adding that he is worried of similar fate this year, too.
Rajbanshi used to reside on the bank of Handiya River of Duhagadhi in the past. But with the river posing serious risks, his family migrated with three other families to Saranamati.
"Lands are cheaper on river side. We cannot afford to buy lands on safer areas," he said.
Mohamad Sadrul of Taaghandubba-7 has similar tale to tell. As in the past, this year, too, floodwaters from the Kankai River dumped mud and sand on his home and cultivated land.
"We were all set to plant rice, but the flooding destroyed the saplings and left silt-covered fields in its wake," he said. The loss of saplings and destruction of land weighs heavily on Sadrul's mind as his family depended whole year round on the produce from the field.
But Rajbanshi and Sadrul are not alone to suffer from river flooding. Over two hundred families of southern VDCs of Jhapa district are forced to leave their houses every year due to floodwaters.
According to Masruddin Ansari, over one hundred families from wards 3, 4 and 9 of Taaghandubba take refuge at local schools and other public places during monsoon every year.
Eight hundred homes at wards 6, 8 and 9 in Saranamati VDC are at the risk of flooding this time.
"People have been encountering the same problems for decades," Prem Narayan Timalsena, of Kumarkhod-2 said. "The indifference of concerned state mechanisms only worsens locals' suffering."
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