KATHMANDU, Jan 31: As many as 206 households in wards 4, 5 and 7 of Naraharinath Rural Municipality in Kalikot district who were displaced by a massive flood on June 27 last year have been living under open sky braving the biting cold.
Altogether 16 people had lost their lives in the incident and thousands were displaced following the natural disaster.
A total of 1,128 people have been living under tarpaulin sheets in the middle of a jungle and they are unable to eke out a living lately, informed Dhan Bahadur Batala, chairperson of the Naraharinath Rural Municipality-7 in the district.
Quake-survivors observing Tihar under open sky
Batala shared, "The chilling cold of winter has left children, women and elderly at risk of health problems."
Dhansara Buda, a flood survivor, bemoaned, "We have been left in the lurch and have been staying in a jungle following the flood. No one has paid attention to resettling us to a safer place."
However, a surveyor at the District Survey Office, Punam Bishwakarma shared that a preliminary study was conducted to find a safe and suitable area to resettle the flood-survivors. According to him, their village is at the risk of flooding. "Hence, resettlement is imperative."
Biswakarma shared that it would take 83,520 square metres (9.3520 hectare) of land to resettle the flood survivors. A huge number of trees in the jungle ought to be cut down if they were to be resettled in the jungle. Considering that, the local authority is seeking an alternative to felling of trees in a large number.
Request for cooperation has been forwarded to the federal and provincial governments for the construction of shelters for resettlement, according to Manshova Buda, vice-chair of Narharinath Rural Municipality.
The local unit had provided relief packages to the flood survivors initially. The Sudur Paschim Province government has pledged to provide Rs 170 million for the construction of houses for the displaced ones but it is yet to be decided by a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the province government, said Buda.
