Nepal plans safe resettlement for Bhotekoshi flash flood victims
Nepal on Monday said it is in talks with local authorities to resettle victims of the Bhotekoshi flash floods in safe places, as most of them cannot return to the areas where they were living before the disaster. The government said relief, relocation and reconstruction for those affected were being taken up in coordination with different agencies.
Minister for Information and Communication Bikram Timilsina said relocation and reconstruction were among the government’s priorities, and programmes were being moved forward based on the problems faced by the victims and their needs. The issue came up during his meeting at the ministry with a delegation of the Non-Resident Nepali Association, or NRNA.
Flash floods that began near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26 devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal. The Bhotekoshi River, which flows south from the Himalayan border region, carried the floodwaters downstream, sweeping away homes, vehicles, roads and bridges and damaging hydropower projects.
According to Timilsina’s secretariat, the minister said, “There is no condition to make settlement for the flood victims in the place where they were living. To develop a new settlement, discussions are going on with the local levels as to which places are safe and appropriate.”
The meeting also discussed possible contributions by the NRNA to the government’s relief and rehabilitation efforts for the flood victims. The NRNA delegation included vice-chair Rojina Rai Pradhan, general secretary Chiranjivi Khadka, Radhika Gurung and chief administrative officer Rajendra Kumar Rawat. The delegation also told the minister that the association’s third phase of relief distribution among flood victims was under way.
The government said it was continuing discussions on safe resettlement for those displaced by the Bhotekoshi floods, while relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts were being carried out with the support of various agencies.
