April was the cruelest month for Nepal, this year. So was May. April 25's massive 7.6-scale earthquake, with epicenter in Gorkha, and powerful aftershocks thereafter ravaged the capital city and neighboring districts like Sindhupalchowk, Rasuwa, Ramechhap, Dolakha, Gorkha and Nuwakot. That of May 12 further damaged lives and properties. More than one hundred days after the biggest tragedy in Nepal's recent memory, unpleasant memories remain. The catastrophe resulted in the loss of about 9,000 lives, destruction of over 200,000 homes and displacement of about 500,000 people. And here comes an ominous warning once again, that has caught us unguarded. According to a recent research, there is a high risk of major earthquake in "an area stretching from the west of Pokhara in Nepal to the north of Delhi in India." How we wish this prediction would be proven wrong eventually! Citing the research findings published in the journals Nature Geoscience and Science, BBC ominously reminds that recent quakes did not release all the stress that had built up underground, and pushed it westward instead. Therefore, they conclude, a major earthquake is long overdue there since there has been no such quake since 1505. The news has gone viral in the social media. Let us not panic but let us take this warning seriously because Nepali geologists had also warned of such possibility in the wake of the April earthquake.We are aware that a slight hint, even baseless rumor, of earthquake could spread public panic. For we have had terrible experience of how earthquake can ravage settlements and our collective psyche. We need to take such warnings as a call to remain better prepared to cope with the inevitable, just in case. Every effort needs to be made before another unthinkable happens. While extra monitoring of seismic prone areas by geologists and experts is needed, it is equally important to teach school children how to react in the event of an earthquake and make the people aware to remain prepared and alert round the clock. Unfortunately, this sense of alertness seems to be sorely lacking among the public. Even today, houses are being erected flouting the building codes. Teeming millions of Nepalis live under mud houses which are extremely vulnerable to collapse during earthquakes. They have no idea what to do when earthquake hits. The government looks as much indifferent.
After 100 days since the tragedy, Sushil Koirala's government has not yet appointed CEO and other officials at the National Reconstruction Authority. The donor countries which generously pledged aids and loans for reconstruction must have been alarmed by government inaction. We, it seems, are living through the constant threat of catastrophe. We cannot prevent it but the government must keep every emergency and rescue services—Nepal Army, Nepal Police, hospitals, fire brigade and all others mechanisms —on high alert. Experts had predicted earthquake in Kathmandu long ago. We ignored their warning and the April 25 happened. We may ignore warning for the earthquake in the western region at the cost of own peril. Nepal, as a seismically vulnerable country, always has possibility of being hit by earthquake. All that the government and the general public must do is to remain prepared.
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