<figure><img width="960" height="640" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111144/63721c179c7e80680e0bd473jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Although Nepal is used to localised rains even post-monsoon, last October saw unprecedented nationwide downpour. Photo: AMIT MACHAMASI.</figcaption></figure>On 11 October 2021, Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology declared that the southwest monsoon had officially exited the country. Paddy fields across the country were golden with ripening rice, and Nepalis were getting ready to prepare for the Dasain festival.On 15 October, the Met Office reported that a westerly system had become active, and there was likely to be some rain. Indeed, the frontal system lashed the Indian state of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/more-himalayan-tsunamis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Uttarakhand</a>, triggering landslides and causing <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kathmandus-flash-floods-are-4-decades-in-the-making/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">flash floods</a>.Nepal is used to localised rains even after the monsoon ends, but this was the first time in 12 years that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/himalayan-floods-a-sign-of-worse-to-come/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">there was widespread nationwide rain in October</a>. And it was not just ordinary showers, the cloudbursts dumped more than 500mm of rain in Dadeldhura on 17-19 October. Sunsari got nearly 400mm in just 24 hours on 19-20 October.Landslides and floods killed over 120 people across the country, 28 are still missing. Nepal’s Ministry of Agriculture had predicted paddy harvests to exceed target because of a healthy monsoon, but the unexpected rain in October cost nearly Rs12 billion in damage to the rice crop, reducing Nepal’s GDP by 0.6%. Sudurpaschim Province alone <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/post-monsoon-rain-ruins-nepals-crops/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lost up to one-third of paddy that was ready for harvest</a>. <figure><img width="597" height="321" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111144/63721c199c7e80680e0bd474jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>24-hour rainfall 18-19 October. Source: DHM</figcaption></figure>Roads, bridges, irrigation schemes and hydropower plants were damaged or destroyed. There was $85 million damage to 26 hydroelectric schemes.     Since then, climate scientists and meteorologists have been scratching their heads to figure out what happened, and why there were not more accurate weather forecasts about the severity of the unseasonal precipitation.A new paper ‘<a href="http://isetnepal.org.np/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Early-Warning-System-in-October-2021-Rainfall-Final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Missed Opportunities in Utilisation of Weather Forecasts: An Analysis of the October 2021 Disaster in Nepal</a>’ by risk reduction experts Dinanath Bhandari and Ajaya Dixit investigates what happened, if it could have been foreseen, and how it can be prevented in future.The authors look at the challenge of predicting post-monsoon and winter precipitation, and how <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the global climate crisis is affecting rainfall patterns</a> that used to be fairly regular in the past. The paper analyses precipitation data since 1971 to show that total post-monsoon rains have gone down all over Nepal except parts of the trans-Himalaya.‘Existing meteorological stations are inadequate to cover the diversity of Nepal’s microclimates, and the high mountain and remote regions have fewer stations than required for climate trend analysis,’ the paper notes. <figure><img width="592" height="318" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111144/63721c1a9c7e80680e0bd475jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>24-hour rainfall October 19-20. Source: DHM</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="592" height="318" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111144/63721c1c9c7e80680e0bd476jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>24-hour rainfall October 20-21. Source: DHM</figcaption></figure>The authors also look into why there was widespread damage and human casualties despite weather alerts through media. Although the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology did predict rain, the messaging did not include location and time-specific impact-based forecasting, they say.Although the National Disaster Risk Management and Mitigation Authority (NDRMMA) did issue early warnings through social media platforms, including daily situation reports, the paper says that these tended to focus on post-event rescue and relief, and not enough on early warning.Even when the correct forecast was available, there was not enough coordination with various other agencies of government like the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Local Development, local governments, as well as the security agencies for emergency rescue. <figure><img width="649" height="360" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111144/63721c1e9c7e80680e0bd477jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Stations with over 200 mm of accumulated rainfall in 2021 October</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="608" height="674" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111144/63721c209c7e80680e0bd478jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Maximum 24-hour October rainfall above 140 mm in October (1951 to 2009)</figcaption></figure>This could have been due to the impending Dasain holiday mood, but the authors also blame ‘location specific impact-based rainfall forecasts’. In other words, the early warning was too general. The authors imply that the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology should not just be in the business of issuing forecasts, but also work with local authorities for preparedness and timely action.  ‘The argument that the frequency of extreme rainfall events in the post-monsoon has increased seems to be valid,’ the paper says. ‘In 2009, the post-monsoon high rainfall was concentrated in west Nepal. It was the same initially in 2021, but the widespread and unseasonal rainfall last year seemed to catch everyone by surprise and there was not even some semblance of preparedness for rescue and relief to be dominant in disaster management response.’Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/lessons-still-not-learnt/">Lessons still not learnt</a>, Editorial

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Post-disaster lessons for Nepal

<figure><img width="960" height="640" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141148/636d012f9c7e80680e0a3619jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>On 31 July this newspaper carried a report titled ‘<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kathmandus-flash-floods-are-4-decades-in-the-making/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kathmandu’s Flash Floods Are 4 Decades in the Making</a>’. The analysis by Tom Robertson stated that there was nothing ‘sudden’ about floods in Kathmandu Valley, and they would get much worse.
We derive no satisfaction in saying, ‘we told you so.’ On the night of 5 September the capital received over 100mm of rain in just 3 hours early on Monday morning. The rain was heaviest recorded in the Valley for decades.
<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/monsoon-hits-nepal-with-a-bang/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/monsoon-hits-nepal-with-a-bang/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631072070032000&amp;usg=AFQjCNECbm6803Ead3PaypG73hCO2ZkjXA">Monsoon modelling</a> by the South Asia Climate Outlook Forum had predicted 20% higher than normal rainfall in most of Nepal this year, but the total precipitation has been even heavier than that in many places causing death and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-valley-suffers-quadruple-disaster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">destruction</a>. The rains have been sustained and relentless, and we saw nearly as much rain as Kathmandu gets in the whole of September falling on just Sunday and Monday. 
Scientists are much more categorical than they have ever been in drawing a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-villages-learn-to-cope-with-climate-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">correlation between such extreme weather events and the climate crisis</a>.  A warming atmosphere means more water vapour in the air, which translates into more than normal rain. 
This year saw record-breaking downpours in the Ahr Valley of Germany, floods in China’s Henan province in July killed 300 people, and remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped 80mm of rain in just one hour on New York, leaving 50 people dead across northeastern US, including three Nepalis.
Meanwhile, Siberia, the Canadian Arctic and California baked in unprecedented heat waves and droughts, with wildfires sweeping across them for a second northern summer in a row. Nepal itself had a five month drought last winter which sparked historic forest fires that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/wildfires-ravage-nepal-mountains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/wildfires-ravage-nepal-mountains/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631072070032000&amp;usg=AFQjCNErZlFXbqeguXo0dcRfMdE1jflNBg">engulfed the whole country</a> in smoke. 
Nearly 80% of Kathmandu’s<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/monsoon-hits-nepal-with-a-bang/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> annual rain </a>falls in just four months: June-September. People in Nepal and the Indo-Gangetic plains have learnt to live with the annual floods, and need them to replenish their farms with nutrients valuable for next year’s crops.
Kathmandu has seen cloudbursts before. The destructive floods of 1981 dumped 170mm of rain in 24 hours on Godavari, unleashing floods on the Bagmati’s tributaries. Makwanpur saw an unimaginable 540mm of rain in 24 hours, and the resulting debris flows filled up the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-cost-of-light/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kulekhani reservoir</a> and wiped out half its life-span. 
Such <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/first-drought-then-downpour/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">extreme events will be more intense and frequent</a> as the atmosphere warms up. That is a given. But instead of preparing for them, we are making them even more disastrous by impounding water with new housing, perimeter walls, or garbage blocking drains. 
Blaming just the climate for this week’s inundation of Kathmandu is a copout. Though heavy, the Valley’s natural drainage system of the Bagmati and Bishnumati would have been able to absorb the excess water by letting it spill over what used to be wide floodplains. 
As Robertson notes, those areas are now built over, natural drainage has been blocked and impermeable concrete and asphalt prevent water from seeping into the ground. In the past 40 years, Kathmandu’s population grew four times. More houses were built, and as land got scarce they encroached into the flood plains. The rivers have been constricted into narrow channels.
Bulldozers are clawing at the Valley rim, removing the slopes that used to store rainwater like gigantic sponges, and let it out slowly. Now, with the buffers gone, even moderate intensity rainfall leads to direct runoff and flooding. 
The problem is the same in the Tarai. Sand mining and logging of the Chure has increased flash floods downstream, sedimentation raises river beds, and new highways and embankments in Nepal and across the border in India act as dams, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/flood-of-recrimination/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">inundating towns and farms</a>. 
The problem is slightly <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/human-face-of-a-himalayan-climate-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">different in the mountains</a>. Haphazard road construction has increased landslide danger, but as we are seeing with Melamchi this year, there is rain where snow used to fall on loose glacial deposits and this is washing them down in deadly debris flows.
Glaciologist Rijan Bhakta Kayastha in a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-needs-weather-stations-in-the-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-needs-weather-stations-in-the-himalaya/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631072070032000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH2R2E1tTCK-vfKOuVtERCgpW-OfA">recent Nepali Times op-ed </a>made a case for more weather stations in the high mountain catchment areas to measure the intensity of rainfall in real time, communicate the data to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority so settlements downstream can get early warning. 
All that is well and good, but as long as we continue to block the natural drainage of rivers, floods will get worse. And there is no point blaming climate change for that.

A flood of recrimination

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141124/636cfc549c7e80680e0a0b81jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: NATIONAL DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY (NDRRMA)</figcaption></figure>The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-valley-suffers-quadruple-disaster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">debris flood on the Melamchi River</a> has been continuous since the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/monsoon-hits-nepal-with-a-bang/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">start of the monsoon on 15 June</a>. Since then, more than 20 people have been killed, more than 100 homes washed away and 400 households displaced. Six highway bridges, and 12 suspension footbridges have been swept away. The $700 million Melamchi Water Supply Project has been damaged even before it came into full operation, and will need expensive and extensive repairs. Basanta Adhikari, Associate Professor of Engineering Geology has just returned from an inspection visit, and spoke to Nepali Times.Nepali Times: From your trip, what appears to be the main cause of this continuing flood?Basanta Adhikari: Due to the weather we could not fly to the headwaters, but looking at videos, it seems that there was always a large amount of glacial and fluvial debris accumulated at a place called Bhremathang. Since the<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/after-the-deluge-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> muddy flood</a> is continuous, I am certain it cannot only be attributed to the landslide on 15 June that blocked the river. All that debris that had accumulated is being constantly washed down.  How much debris are we talking about? And what is it made of? That calls for more study. But there seems to be a multiple thick layer of sand, mud and boulders that have been brought down from the mountains and collected in a relatively flat area. It is also possible that thousands of years ago, a landslide blocked the Melamchi, leading to an accumulation of sediment in what is now a dried up lake bed. Besides this, this could also be part of a glacier that has receded. These are all just possibilities, nothing can be said for sure until further research is done. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-hotter-himalaya/">A hotter Himalaya</a>, Editorial <figure><img width="233" height="277" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141124/636cfc569c7e80680e0a0b82jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Basanta Adhikari</figcaption></figure>How long will there be a risk of more floods threatening the Melamchi project headworks and downstream valleys?  Looking at the debris field there, it is likely that the effect will be quite long-term. Every time there is heavy rain, the loose boulders and sand will keep being washed down. The debris accumulation has to be thoroughly studied before we can say anything about its long-term effects. Only after studying the volume of the debris field can we predict how long it will affect downstream areas. Research Is also needed to design mitigation efforts.Is there a way to stop the flood upstream so it does not threaten the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-needs-to-plan-for-plenty-and-scarcity-of-water/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Melamchi project</a>?We cannot top the flow where the debris field is currently located. However, if we build  a series of check dams, the danger from floods can be reduced. There is sufficient technology and manpower to do so, but it all depends on whether the government has the political will and the funding to carry it out. If preventive measures are taken in time, threats of future catastrophes can be minimised.What lessons can we learn from the Melamchi flood? We must thoroughly analyse what lies upstream before we design any infrastructure or settlements. What are the potential dangers? What can be done to safeguard against future disasters? When planning  large-scale projects like Melamchi, we should model the potential for natural disasters, and engineer them accordingly. The Melamchi flood has reminded us of the importance of researching that an expensive project like that must The extensive damage caused by the natural disasters is a reminder that we should not take Himalayan geology for granted, and formulate policies accordingly. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/drones-to-the-rescue-in-melamchi/">Drones to the rescue in Melamchi</a>, Nepali Times

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The monsoon mess in Melamchi

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06769c7e80680e0a5f63jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"/><figcaption>All photos: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>S ections of the Arniko Highway between Kathmandu and Banepa that are prone to chronic flooding every monsoon season were submerged again on Friday after heavy overnight rain.Trucks and vans were stuck in the high water along Banepa's main thoroughfare, while some paddled in makeshift floats to get across the highway.Water from a nearby stream overflowed into the road because of insufficient drainage, and compound walls that act like dams along natural floodplains of rivers.As predicted by weather modellers, this year's monsoon has been vigorous and total precipitation for June was on average 35% higher than average for Nepal.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06789c7e80680e0a5f64jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d067a9c7e80680e0a5f65jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d067d9c7e80680e0a5f66jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06809c7e80680e0a5f67jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="638"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06829c7e80680e0a5f68jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06869c7e80680e0a5f69jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06899c7e80680e0a5f6ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="639"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d068b9c7e80680e0a5f6bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d068e9c7e80680e0a5f6cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06909c7e80680e0a5f6djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06939c7e80680e0a5f6ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06959c7e80680e0a5f6fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="639">After the first burst in mid-June, Central and eastern Nepal are now being lashed by a second wave, causing landslides to block the country's arterial highways. The Mugling-Narayanghat section, for example, has only opened erratically for the past week with constant rockfalls.At least 7 people were killed on Thursday alone in different parts of the country. Among them was a policeman at the Darchula station as the rains arrived in western Nepal.In Myagdi, Palpa, Syangja, Gulmi and Jhapa, some 50 homes were swept away by flood waters or landslides. As the swollen rivers descended into the plains, farms and villages in Province 2 have also been submerge.A 300m section of the trekking trail to Larkya Pass along the Budi Gandaki River, already badly damaged in the 2015 earthquake has been completely washed away. Upper Gorkha is now accessible only by helicopter.

Monsoon submerges Kathmandu environs

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba64b9c7e80680e073711jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1122" height="810"/><figcaption>Aftermath of the landslide that occurred on Friday morning in Lidi of Sindhupalchok district. All photos: RSS</figcaption></figure>This year’s monsoon season has been disastrous for Nepal, in the past two months 301 people have been killed in landslides all over the country. The death toll has now overtaken 2018 during which 292 people were killed in landlsides.The worst-hit has been Sindhupalchok district, which has seen its most grievous loss of life since the 2015 earthquakes which killed 3,570 people. This was the district with the highest death toll with 40% of all fatalities.Sindhupalchok received a doubly whammy: first from the 7.8M quake on 25 April 2015, and then the 7.3 aftershock on 12 May. Eighty percent of all homes in the district were destroyed.The deadliest landslide in Nepal this year was in Lidi of Sindhupalchok, where a landslide on the night of 14 August sliced through the village killing at least 36 people. Twenty-two bodies have been retrieved so far, the others are presume buried under the rubble.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba64e9c7e80680e073712jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1766" height="1165"><figcaption>So far 22 bodies have been recovered but search is still on going for 17 people still missing from Lidi landslide.</figcaption></figure>Most of the houses had been destroyed in the 2015 earthquakes, and had only recently been rebuilt with government grants. The villagers killed were all from the Tamang community, who represented a third of all fatalities in the 2015 earthquakes as well.Ward officials in Lidi said they had sent a written appeal to the district administration a week before the landslide asking for the village to be relocated because of the danger of landslide. Engineers from the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) had included the village in a Category 1 list of villages vulnerable to landslides.However, the NRA has said the landslide occurred because of inappropriate drainage in the terrain above the village.“The post-earthquake survey did say the village was at risk, but engineers had concluded that there was no need to relocate,” said the NRA’S Chandra Bahadur Shrestha. “They had suggested that an embankment wall be created to deflect a possible landslide.”Shrestha said water was seeping through cracks that had appeared during the earthquakes, and there was no proper system to drain the water to the nearby stream. “The landslide occurred because the local government did not take steps to drain the water,” Shrestha added.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba6529c7e80680e073713jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1800" height="1350"><figcaption>Landslide in Jajarkot district following heavy rainfall last month.</figcaption></figure>Geologists point our several factors for this year’s monsoon being so deadly. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/heavy-monsoon-rains-forecast-for-nepal/">Heavy pre-monsoon showers</a> had already saturated the top soil on steep slopes when the main rains arrived in mid-June. The monsoon itself has been more vigorous than usual with precipitation 30% above average in most places.In additional there has been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/dont-just-blame-god-for-floods-and-landslides/">haphazard and poorly engineered road construction,</a> which has disturbed drainage on slopes. The landslide and flood on tributaries of the Bhote Kosi that killed 23 in Jambu village of Sindhupalchok in June started out as a slope failure next to a newly-built road.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba6559c7e80680e073714jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1050" height="591"><figcaption>Locals and rescue party search for missing people in Jajrkot landslide last month.</figcaption></figure>Heavy rainfall and roads have made the slopes <a href="https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2020/07/24/nepal-2020/">already destabilised by the earthquakes five years ago</a> even more fragile. Sixty-six of Nepal’s 77 districts have been affected this year by landslides and floods, and the worst-hit is Sindhupalchok, east of Kathmandu.One year before the earthquakes, the district suffered <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2014/08/02/a-flood-of-floods/">a massive landslide</a> that wiped out three villages near Jure and blocked the Bhote Kosi River, killing 145 people and causing huge damage to roads, bridges and hydropower plants.Myagdi in central Nepal has also been badly hit, with three landslides on 10 July killing 27 people. Tanahu and Parbat districts have also suffered numerous landslides.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba6579c7e80680e073715jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="426"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914118/636ba65a9c7e80680e073716jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="426">Landslide in Myagdi in central Nepal.“There is light to moderate rain forecast for the rest of the week, but because the slopes are already saturated the danger of landlisdes will persist throughout Augusts,” says meteorologist Shanti Kandel.She adds: “There is a low pressure system over the Bay of Bengal that is moving northwestwards and this could bring more rain later this week.”The NRA has listed 4,829 settlements in the 14 districts affected by the 2015 earthquakes that are in high risk zones, and although the landslide risk has been mitigated in most of them, 500 villages are still in vulnerable slopes.It says villages on slopes more than 30 degrees are relocated, but even in villages with gentler gradient irrigation water and storm drainage needs to be properly managed to reduce landslide risk.

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Post-disaster lessons for Nepal

A flood of recrimination

The monsoon mess in Melamchi

Monsoon submerges Kathmandu environs

Nepal’s deadliest monsoon in recent times