WALING, Aug 24: Chhaprak, a part of Waling Municipality in Syangja, is a dalit-majority settlement. The settlement is situated beneath a cliff, exposing the locals to a high risk of natural hazards.
Such a precarious geological position of the settlement has left the Chhaprak folks in a constant fear of disasters likely to strike at any moment.
Just a few days back, two big rocks dislodged off the cliff to tumble close to settlement. Local Shyam Bahadur Sarki said since the incident, they are restless thinking of more potential consequences ahead. "The possibility of such perilous incident(s) in the days ahead looms large among the Chhaprak people."
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"Though we have planted bamboo trees just above our houses to minimize the disaster risk, the rocks were able to uproot the trees," he said. He added that 17 families face a direct threat from possible rockslide risk at any time. "We see no alternatives to move to safety."
Waling-2 Ward Chair Pot Prasad Lamsal said the massive rocks dislodging off the cliff a few days ago fortunately did not result in any casualty as the objects became lodged in farmland near the settlement.
Chhaprak is home to 204 families and most of them belong to the Dalit community.
Following the incident, a team led by Chief District Officer Shashidhar Ghimire visited the area. The team assessed a high risk to the settlement due to potential rockslide(s) during monsoon.
Ruling out the possibility of the shifting of settlement immediately, the CDO pledged to pursue a durable solution to the problem through a detailed geological study of the area.
(RSS)
