331 killed in various disasters since January

Nepal has been facing mayhem of floods and landslides for over a month now. Some wildfires blazed the country, mostly between April and May, and some disasters swept in silently.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, 2017 classifies disaster as follows:

Nepal, a disaster-vulnerable country, is considered most at risk of monsoon-induced disasters such as floods and landslides, droughts, and waterborne diseases, among others. 

This year, from January 1 to July 24, as many as 331 people have lost their lives in 10,008 incidents of various disasters and 46 missing, affecting 8,571 families — including the Saurya Airlines plane crash in Kathmandu on July 24. The number of injured since January has been reported to be 914, according to the Nepal DRR Portal, which records data on disaster casualties.

Of these, 114 casualties have been reported due to landslides (84) and floods (30). The number of people who went missing in a landslide and flood events are 38 and five respectively. A total of 1,604 families — landslide (694) and flood (910) — were affected. 

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Other monsoon-induced disasters include lightning and heavy rainfall killing 42 and one respectively, affecting 314 and 656 families — about 161 sustained injuries in lightning and 17 in heavy rainfall. Besides, 5,125 wildfire events killed 17 people (including three Nepal Army), injured 27, and affected 531 families. 

Additionally, [structure] fires that caught houses and buildings paint a daunting picture with 3,054 incidents taking a staggering 81 lives while injuring 336 people. Such fires have affected as many as 4,073 families across the country. In the same period last year, 2,542 incidents were recorded that killed 72 while injuring 322, affecting 3,381 families. 

Drought, heatwave, snakebite, and dengue are a few silent disasters in the country. 

The Terai plains suffer from droughts and heatwaves between March and June (peaking in May) with Madhesh Pradesh being the worst hit. The drinking water sources dry up as the underground water level goes down, while farming becomes difficult due to a lack of irrigation. Droughts play a catalyst for snakebite risks.

Except for the winter season, people suffer from snakebites throughout the year. About 11 people have lost their lives while 35 sustained injuries, affecting 47 families this year since March. Meanwhile, a heatwave took three lives in the plains.

Dengue has also become endemic across all districts of Nepal, and peaks in August through October. So far this year, 1,657 cases have been reported without any casualty as of July 19. The month of June recorded the most cases — 322. 

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For the same period (January to July) last year, the country had reported 8,264 cases. Of which, July alone recorded 6,459 cases. The country recorded 14,534 cases in August; 13,912 in September and 12,699 in October (2023). By the end of 2023, the total cases numbered 52,790 while 20 people had died.

We are coming up with two exclusive pieces related to disasters — a wildfire story and an interview with NDRRMA chief Anil Pokhrel. Stay tuned with us.