He informed that of other VDCs, Liwang was hit the hardest in terms of causalities with 151 families displaced in total. Of these, all the families of 1 and 2 number wards and eight families of ward number 3 have been displaced, he said. Besides that, 55 of Khokling, 30 of Khamlung, 27 of Lingte, 23 Thinglabu and six households of Santhakra VDCs have been displaced.The June 12 follow up landslide in the South East part of the district, displaced 40 households of six other VDCs that were previously left unaffected. No human causalities were recorded in this landslide, Niraula informed adding that the landslide displaced 14 and 11 households of Pedang and Khewang VDCs respectively followed by five each of Surungkhim and Aambaygudin VDCs, three of Taplejung municipality and two households of Mamangkehy VDC.
"Due to unavailability of pathways, relief materials were distributed in the western region VDCs through Nepal Army chopper on June 13 and we were able to reach out to the south eastern region VDCs only on June 18," he said ruling out famine fears stating that sufficient food relief have been provided to the affected families.
The landslides has washed away water pipe lines to Liwang and Khokling VDCs. To avoid water scarcity in the area, Niraula said 2,000 meters water pipe has been transported to Khokling through helicopter to resume the water supply.
While the DDRC report is out, VDC secretaries are yet to submit detailed report on causalities and property loss incurred by the landslides. Though the reports were supposed to come in by Friday, VDC secretaries claimed that they have been unable to prepare them citing lack of sufficient manpower required for field visit. They have been handling their work from the district headquarters since the Maoist insurgency and are yet to shift their workstation to their respective VDCs.
CA members mulling to declare "missing" as "dead"
Meanwhile Constituent Assembly (CA) member of the areas are preparing to propose the State Affairs Committee for treating the missing victims of the landslide as dead and compensate their relatives equal compensation as paid to the relatives of the deceased.
The initiative comes at a time when relatives of those missing in the landslides have begun performing their last rites stating that chances of finding them alive were very slim.
"The CDO has informed that the search and rescue operation for the missing will continue for another two days," said Dambar Dhoj Tumbahamfe, CA member for Taplejung area number 2, adding, "if the missing are not found during this period, the State Affairs Committee will be requested to treat them as "dead" and pave way to provide their relatives with the same amount of compensation as given to those of the deceased." So far, bodies of 39 landslide victim have been recovered.
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