162 fire incidents reported in KMC till mid-June of current FY

Published On: July 5, 2023 06:45 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, July 5: In the period up to the mid-June of the current fiscal year, 399 disastrous incidents were reported in Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). According to KMC, most of these incidents were related to fire outbreaks. Among these incidents, there were 162 fire incidents, according to City Police Superintendent Bishnu Prasad Joshi of KMC Disaster Management Department.

According to him, there are more incidents of fire caused by gas leakage and lamp pole fire in KMC. Similarly, it is said that 108 incidents occurred due to electricity leakage, 23 incidents due to water induced disasters, and 106 incidents due to various other disasters.

KMC has estimated that the incidence of disasters will increase this year compared to the previous years. In the last fiscal year, there were only 355 incidents reported of different types of disasters. According to KMC, the fire incident on the lamp posts is caused by the wires placed in a disorderly manner by various internet service providers.

Similarly, SP Joshi says that the use of dilapidated cooking gas cylinders, lack of regular testing and negligence in annual replacement of gas pipes and regulators are increasing the incidence of fire accidents. KMC has allocated Rs 35 million for the purchase of equipment to be used in disaster management for the next financial year.

KMC has set aside an amount of Rs 40 million to spend for the next fiscal year to reduce flooding in various places during the rainy season through the ‘Flood Mitigation’ program. Stating that until a few years ago, children fell into sewers and died, Superintendent Joshi said that now there is no problem after management of sewage.

As the incidence of disasters started to increase, KMC started conducting drills and public awareness programs for the general public to control disasters. It is said that under the drills, there are topics included such as how to extinguish fire safely, how to take the injured to the hospital immediately in the event of a road accident etc.