A
massive flood had caused huge damage to private as well as public properties,
and infrastructure including a school building in Chame, the district
headquarters of Manang, in June 2021 as well.
Manang
and Mustang are the two Nepali districts lying across the mountains. They have
seen the worst effects of climate change of late.
Disasters
caused by extreme events—excessive downpour in a short span of time, continuous
rainfall for several days in the post-monsoon period, dry spells and
drought—have become more pronounced and frequent in these areas in recent
years. However, the authorities are not prepared to deal with such emerging
risks.
According
to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, a weather station at Jomsom
airport recorded 25.4 millimetre rainfall on Sunday, which is extremely heavy
for the place.
“The
normal average rainfall in August in Mustang is 43.9 mm,” said Sudarshan
Humagain, a meteorologist at the department. “Our weather station recorded 9.2
mm rainfall on 12 August, 25.4 mm on 13 and 18 mm on 14 August. The district
witnessed above-normal average rainfall for the entire month in just three
days.”
Evidence
indicates that the maximum temperature in
Studies
show rising global temperatures are likely to accelerate evaporation rates
worldwide, leading to even more rain. Moreover, as a result of a warming
climate, the clouds start going up and even cross the mountains.
Locals
complained that the flood completely transformed the settlement into a
riverbank, which seems practically impossible to reconstruct.
“Rebuilding
houses in the same place is neither possible nor safe,” Dhirendra BK, a local
from
Met
officials said the river might have been dammed upstream by a landslide and had
later burst, flooding the lower reaches. The District Disaster Management
Committee of Mustang, which prepared a preliminary report, said a motorable
bridge along the Jomsom-Korala road section, a suspension bridge, 12 vehicles
including an excavator at the bridge construction site and three temporary
bridges were swept away by floodwaters.
Climate
experts say erratic weather events have been more frequent and pronounced of
late and
The
average rainfall of a particular district in a month could occur in a small
area within a few hours, said Raju Pandit Chhetri, an environment and climate
change expert. “If the average rainfall of an entire month occurs within a few
hours, the devastation it would cause is going to be huge. The same thing
happened in Manang, Mustang and Melamchi of
Sindhupalchok [in 2021].”
The
country’s infrastructure was not built to withstand the impact of erratic
weather events. Neither the authorities nor the residents of Mustang had
anticipated this level of risk on the river relatively small. Houses were built
close to the river.
“Incidents
of floods, landslides, and inundation are just a start. Such extreme events
could be more frequent in the coming days,” said Madhukar Upadhya, a climate
expert. “We have already been witnessing a lot of incidents, which would be
unimaginable in the past. The authorities should start preparing for the
worst.”
Experts
say the existing state mechanisms cannot address all challenges posed by
climate change. Relying on the average rainfall data or past experiences
completely does not help deal with the effects of erratic weather events.
“We
have a short memory. We are talking about the incidents of Mustang now, but
will forget it if another such incident happens in some other place,” said
Chhetri. “The continuation of a reactive approach providing relief after a
disaster takes us nowhere.”
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