Gorkha residents struggle as recovery from Budhigandaki floods continues
Residents of Gorkha have built temporary bridges to reach villages cut off by the October 11 Budhigandaki River floods, while families from Shantibazar in Aarughat are still living in tents.
More than two weeks after the Budhigandaki River flooded on October 11, residents of Gorkha district are rebuilding the routes that connect their villages themselves, while families whose homes were destroyed are still living in tents.
Local efforts to restore connectivity
The floods, triggered after an avalanche blocked the Ungilung Stream, swept away roads and bridges in the lower part of the district and cut off several settlements. According to the District Administration Office in Gorkha, cited by Onlinekhabar, 108 houses and sheds were damaged across Chumnubri, Dharche and Aarughat rural municipalities, and six suspension bridges, two motorable bridges, a Bailey bridge and a cantilever bridge were washed away.
With no other way into Tsum Valley, residents spent two weeks clearing debris and building temporary crossings; the Tsum Valley road reopened on Sunday after 15 days, Onlinekhabar reported. Chumnubri Rural Municipality Chair Nima Lama said four wooden bridges had been built across the Syar Stream for people, livestock and mules.
In Dharche Rural Municipality, the flood carried away a Bailey bridge recently built by the Dobhan Khola hydropower project and a nearby suspension bridge. Residents built a wooden bridge, paid for from the rural municipality's disaster fund, which since Monday has linked Hulchuk in ward 1 with Uhiya and Khotrang in ward 3, restoring access for about 200 households, Annapurna Post reported. Rural Municipality Chair Laxman Gurung said the crossing should last until the monsoon, and that the municipality has asked the federal government for a permanent bridge.
Families in tents
In Shantibazar, in ward 5 of Aarughat Rural Municipality, none of the settlement's 58 houses can be lived in, resident Rajkumar Khatri told Karobar Daily. Families have lost grain, livestock and farmland as well as their homes. Nepal Press counted 27 families sheltering in tents at Bhuinthan, provided by the Nepal Red Cross Society; Khatri put the number at 28 households, with others in makeshift shelters.
Residents said they had been told the government would provide Rs 15,000 a month in rent for six months (Karobar Daily); Nepal Press reported that the local government has asked families with elderly members or young children to rent rooms as the weather turns cold, with up to Rs 15,000 a month per family. With their fields and livestock gone, residents say returning to normal life will be hard even with that support.