Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village

Most Nepalis thought they had seen the last of it after the 25 April 7.8 magnitude earthquake ten years ago. But the Himalaya had more surprises in store.

On 12 May, another 7.3 magnitude tremor that some said was an aftershock, but was strong enough to itself be a major earthquake, struck Dolakha. 

Not many people had heard of Singati till then — a cluster of houses by the Tama Kosi River along a narrow gorge that is the roadhead to Rolwaling Valley. 

It was here that dozens were killed on 25 April in the first earthquake. Hundreds of Singati survivors had lined up for food and relief supplies in the morning of 12 May when the second earthquake triggered a rock slide that buried a nearby camp. At least 50 people were killed.  

Three hours later, a US Marine Corps UH-1Y Venom helicopter landed in a nearby cornfield to pick up the wounded, and flew off. The aircraft lost contact with air traffic control in Kathmandu and its wreckage was located high on Kalinchok four days later. Six American servicemen, two Nepal Army soldiers, and five wounded civilians from Singati were killed.

Today, Singati bears little physical scar of the multiple tragedies that struck the town ten years ago. Most houses have been rebuilt as urban-style concrete structures, and Singati has become an economic hub on the road leading up to several hydropower plants and a popular trekking destination. 

The town looks less like a village and more like a suburb of the Dolakha district headquarter of Charikot, 47km away.

“The demand for construction material, cement, iron rods and bricks peaked after the earthquakes,” says Suresh Khadka, who owns a hardware business here and now supplies material to the 456MW Upper Tama Kosi hydropower project that is undergoing repairs after it was damaged by a landslide last year.

The demand for cement boomed since most residents believe, not necessarily correctly, that cement houses are safer. Although Khadka did well selling construction material after the earthquake, he worries that most new structures do not follow seismic-resistant building codes. 

The construction boom financed by bank loans has in turn forced many from Singati to migrate overseas for work so they can service their debt.

“My family had no choice but to borrow money to rebuild our home since the government compensation was not enough, and ten years later we are still paying off the loan,” says Phu Doma Sherpa, 60.

Because of the shortage of qualified masons and proper seismic engineering, many of the buildings are of questionable building standards and the traditional architecture has been abandoned, admits Kul Bahadur Budathoki, deputy chair of the municipality.

“But these buildings were more expensive than what the government grants could cover, many people here are heavily in debt and the men have migrated to the Gulf to pay their loans,” Budathoki says.

Singati is in a multi-hazard zone. The 12 May 2015 earthquake could have led to the collapse of Nepal’s largest glacial lake, Tso Rolpa, upstream. Due to global warming, the glacier has turned into an expanding lake 3.5km long, and its collapse would have unleashed a catastrophic Himalayan tsunami down the Tama Kosi Valley, with Singati directly in its path.

Singati has literally risen from the ashes of 2015, with its residents beginning to recover from the trauma and financial toll. But it is not out of danger as climate breakdown magnifies the risk from future earthquakes.