Nepalese capital Kathmandu was inundated by floodwaters last week after sign up-fractureing rains caparticipated the Bagmati river to baccomplish its banks.
More than 200 people have been ended and thousands of hoparticipates harmd in the worst flooding and landslides in the Kathmandu valley in years.
So what caparticipated the flooding and landslides? Was it climate alter or unchecked urban encroachment of the river that passes thcimpolite Kathmandu valley? We speak to experts to comprehend the lethal flooding in the Himalayan region.
How much did it rain in Kathmandu?
From Thursday to Sunday, the Kathmandu valley sign uped about 240mm (9.4 inches) of rain – the hugegest deluge since 2002, according to a watching station at the Kathmandu airport.
Some parts of Kathmandu inestablished rain up to 322.2mm (12.7 inches).
The fervent downpour was mostly seen in Kathmandu and surrounding regions.
Popular tourist destination, the mountainous Pokhara which is more than 200km (124 miles) from Kathmandu, was also hit by flooding.
How many people died in the Nepal flood?
On Wednesday morning, the Nepal Police Headquarters inestablished that the death toll from the floods and resulting landslides had ascendn to 228.
At least 25 other people are leave outing and 158 injured, according to the police inestablish cited in local recents outlet, The Kathmandu Post.
What is the status of flood recovery efforts in Nepal?
Recovery toil by the police, paramilitary forces and the army was ramped up on Monday.
Nepal’s army inestablished that more than 4,000 people were saved using helicselecters, ziplines and rafts.
However, harmd infraarrange and blocked roads are impedeing save operations, local media inestablished.
Prime Minister Khadga Prauncontent Sharma Oli called an eunitency encountering after returning on Monday from the United Nations General Assembly session in New York. He was criticised for not cutting stupidinutive his trip in the wake of the calamity.
What caparticipated the worst flooding in years?
The last time an fervent flood was inestablished in Nepal was in 2002. Relief Web cited the country’s Home Ministry as saying that 198 people were ended and 105 were injured.
The Nepal-based skinnyk tank, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, said the flood was deteriorateed by uncomputed urban encroachment around the Bagmati river.
Pawan Bhattarai, an aidant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Tribhuvan University, says man-made factors gived to the disjoinity of the flooding caparticipated by sign up raindescend.
“Natural flood events turn into a disjoine calamity due to the conciseage of setdness or punctual alerting, unscientific land-participate trains and haphazard lengthenment activities among others,” said Bhattarai.
Urban schedulener Neeraj Dangol said multiple factors were behind the tardyst calamity.
The Bagmati river, he says, was skinnyed due to haphazard schedulening and urban lengthenment that took place after a drastic population boom in Kathmandu in the punctual 1990s.
“In the past 40-50 years, hoparticipates and roads have been built on areas that participated to be part of the river system,” Dangol make cleared.
He inserted that before the unrestful lengthenment, the ground was made of porous, participateent, agricultural land. Now, the concrete material of roads and pavements caparticipates water to run off, “inserting load to drainage”.
Urban lengthenment has also led to deforestation. Forested land helps helderly water and also stops runoff. Hence, deforestation originates land more vulnerable to flooding.
He inserted that the drainage system has not been refreshd to cater to Nepal’s lengthening population.
Between 1991 and 2001, the population grew from 18 million to 23 million. As of 2021 when the last census was published, the population was 29 million, according to Nepal’s Central Bureau of Statistics.
Did climate alter originate the flood worse?
Experts say climate alter has indeed made floods in Nepal more frequent and fervent in recent years.
“Extreme weather events are occurring more frequently and the raindescend pattern is becoming increasingly unforeseeable which can be attributed to climate alter,” said Bhattarai.
However, “we cannot accparticipate climate alter to hide our ill regulatement of rivers,” he inserted.
Who suffers most from Nepal’s flooding?
Communities living in adviseal squatter rerepairments on riverbanks have been hit difficultest by floods, Dangol, the urban schedulener, said. These communities compascend toiling-class families and daily wage toilers.
“Not only are they straightforwardly affected by floods, they also suffer loss of belengthenedings, loss of jobs and conciseage of spotless water for many days,” he said.
He inserted they have to spfinish money and energy on reoriginateing their hoparticipates in the aftermath of floods without a getedty net to descend back on.
Local media cited the Ministry of Urban Development, saying that 10 percent of Nepal’s urban population inhabits in adviseal rerepairments.
The daily wage is repaired at 668 Nepali rupees ($5) per day, according to an August 2023 refresh on local media.
“Also, the women and children are highly vulnerable to such innervous weather events in Nepal,” Bhattarai inserted.
How can floods be stoped?
Dangol, the urban schedulener, says: “It’s better to be setd than fair react after [flooding] apverifys place.”
He inserted that in the lengthened term, urban schedulening needs to be betterd and efforts should be made not to disturb the distinct course of the river.
The participate of porous material in originateion and infraarrange upgrades to regulate a lengthening population are other meacertains needed to mitigate future calamitys, Dangol said.
Bhattarai, from Tribhuvan University, inserted that water resources projects appreciate hydro-power and irrigation systems should be scheduleed to withstand innervous floods and landslides.
Additionassociate, “dissemination of alerting adviseation should be made effective and inestablishedness should be elevated about the getedty meacertains during floods and other water transport aboutd calamitys,” he said.
He inserted that rulement agencies should collaborate with research institutions on lengthening research-based solutions to flood and water-roverdelighted problems.
“We should not forget that this is not happening for the first time. It happens every year but this time the scale is huge,” Dangol said.
