Houses on highways more at risk from quakes

KHOTANG, May 22: The mega-earthquake of April 25 destroyed Rajkumari Rai’s concrete house at Nunthala-4 of Khotang district, which was built on the Diktel-Haleshi section of mid-hill highway about five years ago. Rai is now wondering why the nearby houses that were not so close to the highway as hers withstood the quake.

Other homes lying just next to the highway belonging to his neighbors Devendra Tamang, Ram Kumar Rai, and Ambar Kumar Rai, too, suffered serous damages. Suprisingly, none of the houses were old or weak and their owners had never thought that their homes would collapse so easily.

“Houses built at some distance from the highway survived the quake comparatively for longer period,” said joint-secretary of UCPN Maoist Khotang district committe, Suresh Rai, who also owns a house in Nunthala. “All the houses built along the highway have been destroyed or have developed cracks, rendering them uninhabitable.

Locals suspect that vibrations created by the continuously moving heavy vehicles along the highway must have weakened the houses, leading to their easy collapse.

District chariman of Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Jeevan Shrestha said, “Walls of most houses were already weakened by continous vibrations produced by heavy vehicles. Even an earthquake of smaller magnitude would have destroyed them.”

“Maybe there are other technical reasons behind the collapse of the houses in the area. But we strongly believe that movements of heavy vehicles is one of them,” added Shrestha.

The problem has been observed not just in Nunthala. Many houses adjoining the highway in other villages of the district such as Bijuley, Arkhauley, Haleshi, Dhurchim, Chyamistar, Bahunidada, among others, have also suffered the same fate. However, no official data has been collected so far.

According to Kishor Shrestha, a local, houses of around 624 families in Arkhauley VDC have developed bad cracks. “Most of the houses at Arkhauley bazaar are not inhabitable,” said Shrestha. “As far as we know, it’s all due to the movements of heavy vehicles.”

After the mega-quake, heavy vehicles have been prohibited from plying in the district headquarters, Diktel. The move was decided in a meeting of District Disaster Relief Committee, which came to conclusion that “vibrations” produced by vehicles can have further negative impacts on already cracked houses.

“We took the decisoin after concluding that heavy vehicular movements further weaken the houses,” said Rajendra Layelu, chairman of the Khotang chapter Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI).