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<\/a><\/p>\nAlthough landslides are the second most hazardous disaster in Nepal after epidemics, very little has been done to prepare for these events or mitigate the destruction they wreak.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Despite a government order for people to leave the area near the landslide, she is still living in the village. \u201cThey [the government] asked me to go to temporary camp \u2013 an hour\u2019s walk from home \u2013 but who will look after my livestock? What will happen to this house built with a loan?\u201d said Adhikari. \u201cThis is our lifetime investment and the result of our hard work, how can we leave this.\u201d Three years ago her husband went to Qatar to earn money and he is still struggling to pay back the loan.<\/p>\n
The massive landslide that hit the China-Nepal border on August 2 \u2014 washing away three villages and killing 156 people \u2014 has raised fears of flash floods downstream in Nepal and neighbouring India. The Indian government has evacuated 400,000 people from Bihar.<\/p>\n
Helicopters pass frequently carrying people and goods between Kathmandu and Tatopani \u2014 a town bordering Tibet where over 1,000 pilgrims and tourists were stranded as they returned from trekking in Tibet.<\/p>\n
The area is alive with activity and the sound of explosions, but the people who have stayed behind are trying to get on with their lives. Sixty-year-old Bishnu Parajuli lost his sister, two grandsons and nephew. \u201cWe were fortunate to get dead bodies and have already performed the last rites. We should move on with life despite of our troubles,\u201d he said, as he busied himself in the field, preparing his rice for planting.<\/p>\n
Only 33 bodies out of the 156 people declared dead have been recovered from the landslide that hit Sindhupalchowk. \u201cWe can smell dead bodies in the landslide, but it\u2019s not possible to go there as boulders are still falling and the landmass is very unstable,\u201d said a police officer on duty near the village.<\/p>\n
More than 70 houses were swept away. One of the buildings destroyed by the landslide was the school where Ranjan Adhikari was studying in seventh grade. Six of his friends were killed in the landslide but he does not know how many others from his school died. The school building is now a pile of debris. \u201cI hope my school will be reconstructed and I can attend school again,\u201d he said as he carried maize from his field in a bamboo basket.<\/p>\n
Most of the villagers living near the landslide stay at home during the day and go to temporary camps constructed by the government at night. But Sapana Karki is one of the few who are staying at home even at night. \u201cWe can\u2019t leave this place as we don\u2019t have options, we are ready to die if it is God\u2019s will,\u201d said Karki. She was also busy preparing her field for rice planting.<\/p>\n
Slow government response<\/strong> According to Kattel, about 500 people have been provided with relief packages but those who are living downstream are demanding support too, which the government is not able to provide. \u201cThere are thousands of people who live downstream of the landslide dam, although it is risky to stay in cities downstream. We cannot afford to provide relief for thousands up to the Nepal-India border,\u201d added Kattel. Some parts of the Araniko highway \u2014 the major trade route linking Nepal and Tibet \u2014 have been completely destroyed in the landslide. \u201cWe have been trying to open up an alternative route and it should be in operation soon,\u201d said Kattel.<\/p>\n Risk of flash floods<\/strong>
\nThe families of victims blame the Nepal government for insufficient efforts to recover people trapped in the landslide and complain they have not been provided enough relief assistance. \u201cWe have received a packet of rice, pulses and some other food materials with mattress, that\u2019s all what we have received,\u201d said Bishnu Parajuli. Government officials said it is not possible to rehouse people immediately but refuted claims that they had provided insufficient relief materials. \u201cWe have enough food and other materials for victims. It has been distributed regularly so there shouldn\u2019t be such an issue,\u201d said Yubaraj Kattel, a local development officer and coordinator of the District Disaster Rescue and Relief Sub-Committee.<\/p>\n
\nExperts estimate the lake, which formed behind the landslide on the Sunkoshi River, contains more than eight million cubic metres of water. Efforts by the Nepal army to drain water have had limited success. \u201cA regular flow of water has been maintained but it\u2019s very challenging to drain out water stored in the dam putting thousands of lives downstream in danger,\u201d said Subodh Dhakal, assistant professor of geology at Tribhuvan University. \u201cWe have to do rigorous examinations but with general observations it doesn\u2019t seem the dam will burst immediately as it\u2019s a mixture of hard rock and mud,\u201d added Dhakal. He was in the field to monitor the landslide.
\nMany river resorts and markets along the Araniko highway have still not fully reopened. Locals carried goods from their shops to safer places, but now they are slowly bringing their goods back. \u201cWe stay in the shops during day and at the night time we go to the homes of relatives who live at a higher altitude,\u201d said Anjan Khadka, operator of Sunkoshi Beach Resort in Sukute, a few kilometres downstream of the landslide.<\/p>\n