There are still two months to go before<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/managing-the-monsoon"> the monsoon </a>breaks, but Roma Gurung who survived last September’s flash flood in Panauti is worried about what the rainy season has in store.&nbsp; The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/60-dead-64-missing-in-nepal-floods">massive debris flow of 28-29 September</a> was unleashed by record-breaking rainfall, but it was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-revenge-of-the-rivers">made worse by stone quarries and sand mining</a> as well as encroachment along the floodplains. “The rains will arrive soon, and we don’t know where we should go,” says Gurung, who was nearly swept away last year. “Last time I ran up the hill with my husband and two children and watched our house being swept away by a flood. I do not know if I have the strength and courage to go through that again.” &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250501090520_9e326638721bcae722ab1e86d76aa536132b2eb9e9322bc6fd3616d1d0693e25.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250501090520_9e326638721bcae722ab1e86d76aa536132b2eb9e9322bc6fd3616d1d0693e25" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi Panauti nepal floods NT 1"> <figcaption>187 houses were destroyed and five people were killed, in Panauti's Ward 12. </figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250501090524_dc37a55035b9a160c48fea0e09e4745f8fdcdddf08021aff3a52efd162dc829b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250501090524_dc37a55035b9a160c48fea0e09e4745f8fdcdddf08021aff3a52efd162dc829b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi Panauti nepal floods NT 1"> </figure>  For residents of Ward 12 in Panauti, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-flood-of-tears-on-the-rosi">the flood seven months ago</a> is still etched in their memories. The unprecedented precipitation killed 224 people across the country, 32 of them just in Panauti. Five people were killed in Gurung’s neighbourhood where 187 houses were destroyed. The floods also destroyed <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-first-hydropower-from-a-glacial-lake">hydropower plants</a>, slashing Nepal’s generation capacity by half, and damaged parts of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepal-needs-wildlife-friendly-highways">national highways</a>. About 25km of the BP Highway was washed away, and the temporary road is along the riverbed. This monsoon, the highway will have to be closed. &nbsp; “If I were alone, I would have stayed home and let the flood and landslide take me away,” says another Ward 12 resident, Jamuna Biswakarma. “I ran for the sake of my family and my 10-day-old granddaughter.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250501090524_a4b5d3bdf31b9433789a041eab51c89bd3d11a5373749a5fcd40321b55765a1a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250501090524_a4b5d3bdf31b9433789a041eab51c89bd3d11a5373749a5fcd40321b55765a1a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi Panauti nepal floods NT 1"> <figcaption>Jamuna Biswakarma is dreading the coming monsoon season. She has not received any compensation from the government or crusher companies for the damage to her house.</figcaption> </figure>  Locals here did not just lose loved ones or their homes: many also lost their livelihoods. On a recent visit, Sangita Pariyar was pleading with the ward chair for a sewing machine. “A machine would help me earn a living. I could repay my loan and pay for the school admission of my children,” she said. Pariyar and her husband had been running a tailoring shop in Ward 12. They had a decent income and were planning to expand their business. But the flood washed away everything: the shop, sewing machines, cash saved for Dasain, new clothes for sale, and some crucial documents. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250501090524_18f5df73e621426c5a8d3509fd0d6b910d843ff9ddd1ed6262da512638470ff7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20250501090524_18f5df73e621426c5a8d3509fd0d6b910d843ff9ddd1ed6262da512638470ff7" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi Panauti nepal floods NT 1"> <figcaption>Sangita Pariyar and her husband ran a tailoring business, and were planning to expand before the flood washed away everything, including their sewing machines.</figcaption> </figure>  Much of the death and damage was due to the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/politicians-and-cronies-blamed-for-kavre-floods">unchecked operation of stone quarries and crusher companies</a> in the catchment of Rosi, and much less with heavy monsoon rains. There are 25 crusher and mining companiesin the Rosi catchment—many of them illegal—extracting sand, stones and gravel to feed the capital’s construction boom. This makes the slopes and river bed very unstable and greatly increases the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/a-disaster-resilient-nepal-is-possible">risk of landslides and floods</a>. A government report has recommended shutting down some of the mining and crusher operations in the area. Some were running without registration, and others were not adhering to guidelines. According to Standards on Extraction, Sale and Management of Stones, Pebbles, and Sand (2020), such plants must be situated 2km away from any settlements. But that was not followed near the Rosi, and mining operations have resumed.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241007131020_c55becabe58855ee897cacf411e0889923bd699b07d563444f16c009362ed50e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20241007131020_c55becabe58855ee897cacf411e0889923bd699b07d563444f16c009362ed50e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi flood"> <figcaption>Panauti and the Rosi watershed area, taken from Google Maps in May 2024.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250501090524_a9e458cf15367c4b3038c9ac5dad6bd87a05bd962bfdc256e43cb3ca25b1131e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="20250501090524_a9e458cf15367c4b3038c9ac5dad6bd87a05bd962bfdc256e43cb3ca25b1131e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi Panauti nepal floods NT 1"> <figcaption> The damage of the record-breaking rainfall on 28-29 September 2024 was amplified by stone crushing operations on the Rosi Khola.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250501090524_46cc1011c451a14e4dca455c31ebb7f560d599d3b45dfc301e964f18fc30d253.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20250501090524_46cc1011c451a14e4dca455c31ebb7f560d599d3b45dfc301e964f18fc30d253" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi Panauti nepal floods NT 1"> </figure>  Residents along the riverbanks had long feared that these industries would trigger disasters. “The operators of these mines and crushers are powerful and influential people. We had protested to stop them, but who listens to ordinary people like us?” asks Biswakarma.&nbsp; Some locals are now building shelters while others have sold their land and have moved elsewhere, fearing more disaster as<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/abnormal-rise-in-monsoon-lightning-in-nepal"> pre-monsoon storms</a> lash the mountains. “My neighbours have started building temporary houses, but I don’t have the money,” says Gurung. “If the floods come, we could climb the slopes for safety, but now there is the danger of landslides too. How are we supposed to get through this monsoon?”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250501090524_bbc1bc045596f615659a8361109d837b4ff9ab56925c6c64aa6eed2adbc7e683.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250501090524_bbc1bc045596f615659a8361109d837b4ff9ab56925c6c64aa6eed2adbc7e683" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi Panauti nepal floods NT 1"> <figcaption>Many of the houses damaged in the floods last year, like this one, are yet to be constructed. Most do not have the money to rebuild.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250501090524_1b238fa1d116ae12c48f78843043518a1077acda052c8c91641517298efbc8b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250501090524_1b238fa1d116ae12c48f78843043518a1077acda052c8c91641517298efbc8b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi Panauti nepal floods NT 1"> </figure>  Ward chair Jaya Ram KC says that there are preparations to reduce the risk of floods and landslides this monsoon season. Flood control measures are also planned along the Rosi to protect Ward 12.&nbsp; But locals are still haunted by the trauma of last September and do not feel prepared at all. They say <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-flood-survivors-still-waiting-for-relief">they have received no support</a>, not from the government, nor from the illegal stone quarries and crushers which are again operating with impunity. Says Jamuna Biswakarma: “We are living with uncertainty and anxiety about the rains. Will anyone be held accountable for our suffering this time?” In collaboration with Sajira Shrestha.&nbsp; <div class="embed-block"><iframe width="750" height="400" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RTU5IUw6A_w?si=bUK1M6ePu3q0zCHL" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

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Before the next monsoon

It is that time of the year again, and another annual climate jamboree. Last year it was in the UAE, this year it is in another petrostate, Azerbaijan.&nbsp;
On the eve of the summit, the president of COP29 was exposed in a sting operation by World Witness while giving leads to a fake financier for fossil fuel projects in Azerbaijan. Like Dubai last year, this is another jumbo gathering with nearly 67,000 delegates. That is a large carbon footprint.
Even so, global climate negotiations are of critical importance, particularly to build a stronger case for Loss &amp; Damage (L&amp;D) and adaptation for countries like Nepal which are at the frontlines of climate breakdown.
Baku is billed as the ‘Finance COP’ and an agreement was signed for full operationalisation of the L&amp;D Fund to disburse money starting next year. On 13 November, Nepal also organised a prominent event in Baku to address loss and damage in mountain areas.
COP29 is also mandated to come up with a new roadmap to mobilise $100 billion every year to developing countries by the end in 2025, as agreed ten years ago in Paris. But much water has flowed down the Seine since then, and there is bickering between rich and poor countries on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). Who is going to fund the additional $671 billion annually for loss and damage, and $2.4 trillion a year by 2030 to meet emission targets?&nbsp;
The hardcore negotiations will not take place till the L&amp;D Fund board meet in Manila next month. But there are lots of things to iron out first to garner necessary political will in Baku. Who is going to pay, how much, is it going to be part of already committed development aid or is it new money, and besides, with frequent record-breaking disasters, we may need much more than $100 billion a year by 2030.&nbsp;
Nevertheless, the Nepali adviser to the LDC Chair at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Manjeet Dhakal is optimistic, and told us from Baku that this summit should build momentum to speed up the L&amp;D Fund.
The September floods in central and eastern Nepal claimed 244 lives, and damaged more than a dozen hydropower plants temporarily, slashing domestic generation capacity by half and caused billions of rupees in damage that will take years to recover. The Melamchi disaster in 2021, the Kagbeni flood in 2022 and Thame this year are other recent climate-induced calamities.
The World Weather Attribution concluded that rapid urbanisation and climate change were key drivers behind the September disaster. Evidence such as this will increase Nepal’s case for L&amp;D Funds even though encroachment and quarrying contributed to the destruction.&nbsp;
Climate impact must therefore be addressed simultaneously with urban planning, better governance, with local adaptation and mitigation plans. Nepal has to put its own house in order for its loss and damage claims to have weight at the international table.&nbsp;
Nepal has already exceeded one of its climate goals of increasing forest cover to 45% of area, and recently received Rs1.6 billion from the World Bank for increasing its carbon reserves between 2018-24 by expanding forest cover in 13 Tarai districts. Nepal has also made notable progress in transitioning to clean energy by electrifying transport and cooking. However, electricity is a mere 3.5% of Nepal’s energy mix, with biomass taking a 80% share.&nbsp;
Nepal’s strategy moving forward should be to come up with a new Nationally Determined Contribution aligned with the Paris 1.5°C goal. This also corresponds with the other top priority of COP29, which is to guide countries to submit new 1.5°C aligned NDCs next year.
Even if the L&amp;D Fund does come through, it will be inadequate to fully make up for the harm that is sure to intensify in the coming decade. Even if we did get the money, it is doubtful given the lack of transparency and Nepal’s record of poor disbursement if it will ever get to the neediest people. In other words, we are on our own.
Writing emotionally for this paper in the aftermath of the September floods, climate finance expert Rastraraj Bhandari said, “We in the climate finance sector are lost in words, actions and false promises of organisations purporting to help vulnerable countries, communities and families.”
Echoing the helplessness of the survivors, he added, “I worked on projects to mobilise millions of dollars for climate action so that those most vulnerable would be safe. Yet, this weekend’s floods have shown me that on the ground, absolutely nothing has changed.”&nbsp;
Sonia Awale

Bad COP

An estimated 1.8 million people were expected to leave Kathmandu Valley for their home districts for the Dasain festival this year. But that estimate was made before the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/when-it-rains-it-pours-ksqprbu3">devastating floods last week</a> that killed at least 244 people and knocked out roads effectively marooning Kathmandu.
There are still 15 roads and major sections of highways that are blocked, while the Department of Roads and local governments are trying to build temporary roads to bypass the destroyed sections.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/flood-of-despair">The flood of despair</a>, Rastraraj Bhandari
Because of this, only 800,000 people had left Kathmandu Valley till Wednesday, the last day before the Dasain holidays. Domestic airlines are doing brisk business and have added flights to ferry passengers, and Nepal Airlines and Himalaya Airlines are planning to use their Airbus 320 jets to fly to Bhairawa and Pokhara from Kathmandu.
The worst damage is on the B P Highway, a major artery connecting Kathmandu to Eastern Nepal, where at least seven sections have been completely swept away by the flooded Sun Kosi and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-flood-of-tears-on-the-rosi">Rosi Khola</a>. The roads to Bhyakure Khola, Mamti Khola, Kaldhunga, Boksi Kuna, Narke Bridge, Pinthali Besi, and Dalabesi in Kavre are all blocked.
The damage to the Japanese-built BP Highway at various points along the 7km stretch from Chaukidanda in Namo Buddha to Narke in Rosi Municipality is so severe that it may take months for it to be completely repaired.
Many are not waiting for the temporary detour roads to be built and taking a roundabout route via Charikot and the Midhill Highway to head east from Kathmandu. But road conditions even there are bad with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-mountain-fell-on-top-of-us">numerous landslides</a>.&nbsp;
On Tuesday, Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak visited Sindhuli and said that the BP Highway should be operational within a week with Nepali Army working on the repairs. However, Keshav Sharma, secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, contradicted Lekhak saying it would be difficult to reopen the BP Highway before Dasain.
The Arniko Highway connecting Kathmandu to the Chinese border at Kodari is also completely blocked at Panchkhal in Kavre and the Liping Bridge in Sindhupalchok. A span of the Sunkosi Bridge connecting the BP Highway to Ramechhap was swept away, and the Nepal Army has built a temporary ramp by filling in a part of the river.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-revenge-of-the-rivers">The revenge of the rivers</a>, Shamshad Ahmad
The road is also blocked at Lubhu Khola in Ramechhap and Phoksintar in Udayapur along the Pushpalal Highway. Some damaged roads are now open for one way traffic and many vehicles are stuck in the mud.
For instance, only one-way traffic is allowed in Lele on the Tika Bhairav road joining southern Lalitpur to the plains. The Midhill Highway is also blocked at Tinghare in Tehrathum, Phidim-2 on the Mechi Highway and Krishnabhir in Dhading on the Prithvi Highway to Pokhara.

Long way home this Dasain

Shyam Lama had just fallen asleep on the early morning of 28 September when he heard a loud bang outside his shop on the side of the highway in Dhading, 15km from Kathmandu. It had been r<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/60-dead-64-missing-in-nepal-floods">aining incessantly for two days</a>, landslips and fallen trees had blocked the Kathmandu-Mugling highway. Many buses were stranded, and some of them were parked at a bend on the road in Jhyaple Khola, waiting for the debris to be cleared. The bang that Lama heard was another landslide from the mountain above falling near his shop and covering the highway with 4m of mud and stones. Some of the buses were damaged, and injured passengers were running for safety in the darkness and pouring rain. In the light of dawn, they could see the damaged buses heading to Kathmandu from the west. But it was not till later in the day that Lama and some of the other rescuers saw the top of another bus sticking out of the mud.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241008141044_a0b528829a4230da6b7b26102a42f0a061de6c26a4fb1d1e201dabfcfc647519.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241008141044_a0b528829a4230da6b7b26102a42f0a061de6c26a4fb1d1e201dabfcfc647519" data-rendition-name="original" width="5726" height="3817" loading="lazy" alt="jhyaple khola landslides"> <figcaption>Photos: SUMAN NEPALI(Photo: suman)</figcaption> </figure>  They dug through the slush to find 11 bodies. But then they spotted the tyre of another vehicle, then a van. Altogether 35 passengers perished that night in the three buses heading to Kathmandu from Chitwan, Butwal and Gorkha.&nbsp; “The buses were all stuck because the highway was blocked, and the landslide fell and buried them with the passengers sleeping inside,” Lama says. “If the debris up the road had been cleared in time, the buses would have been able to continue on to Kathmandu.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-flood-of-tears-on-the-rosi">A flood of tears on the Rosi</a>, Archana Darji Archana Koirala runs a convenience store nearby, and was also awoken by muffled shouts for help almost drowned out by the sound of the rain on the tin roof. “In the darkness, I saw people escaping from two buses, some of them injured and covered in blood,” recalls Koirala. “I gathered up my little girls and ran for my life.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241008141044_ec79cc7198b54bad77c3f03bc1420ea64cb6776eaaec29581209614194b862fa.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241008141044_ec79cc7198b54bad77c3f03bc1420ea64cb6776eaaec29581209614194b862fa" data-rendition-name="original" width="5680" height="3787" loading="lazy" alt="jhyaple khola landslides"> </figure>  Another shop owner Ajita Tamang, heard the landslide coming down and nearly burying her house. She ran with her mother to the nearby woods. Her shop did not survive. Krishna Tamang heard the sound of a bus windshield shattering, and went outside to check. &nbsp;He saw one of the buses half-buried in debris before it disappeared before his eyes, swallowed up by a fresh wave of mud. Unable to do anything to help, he ran up the mountain to save his own life.&nbsp; Shop owners and residents in Jhyaple Khola say that the landslide was so massive and came down so suddenly that the passengers in the vehicles probably did not even know what hit them. A week later, the mangled mass of the three buses are all that remain on the roadside, and excavators were trying to open the road for the expected heavy Dasain traffic on the arterial highway that connects Kathmandu to western Nepal. A visit to the site shows the mountain above scarred by open red wounds of landslides. The biggest slope failure originates in a local road about 100m above the highway and has brought down debris that was just dumped over the edge by bulldozers. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/flood-of-despair">When the record-breaking rain came</a>, the mud turned into paste and raced down the mountain carrying tree trunks and large stones. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241008141044_64f6af7e300ed517f6bd161491a69d85706caed35839cfeee7c87e6671a8fdc3.png" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241008141044_64f6af7e300ed517f6bd161491a69d85706caed35839cfeee7c87e6671a8fdc3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1320" height="1346" loading="lazy" alt="jhyaple khola landslides"> <figcaption>The bend on the highway where the landslide, triggered by a sub-standard road up the mountain buried three buses, killing 35 people on the night of 28 September. Other buses also blocked by another landslide further up the road were also damaged. Photo: SOCIAL MEDIA(Photo: Sonia Awale)</figcaption> </figure>  Typically, Dasain is the busiest time of year for businesses along the highway in Jhyaple Khola as people leave Kathmandu by busloads to get home for the festival. “We do not stay here for long anymore, we are already home before the sun sets,” says Krishna Tamang. “We fear another landslide will hit us at any time.” In July, a debris flow <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/100-101-102-hh5uvzf9">swept two intercity buses into the Trisuli River</a> along the Mugling-Narayangad Highway 60km west of here. Of the 62 passengers on the two buses, only three were able to swim to safety. Search and rescue teams recovered 27 passengers from the river in the aftermath of the landslide, but neither the buses nor the rest of the passengers have been found.&nbsp; A committee formed by the government to investigate the Simaltal disaster concluded that a new local road constructed farther up the mountain was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/managing-the-monsoon">mainly responsible for the debris flow</a>. The Jhyaple Khola mudslide was a repeat of the July disaster. Locals in Dhading say that the Department of Roads had just completed the retaining wall, and the debris from the excavation done to construct the road had piled up, which the rain swept down to the highway below.&nbsp; Similar unplanned roads constructed further above in Nagdhunga have also clogged up the culverts, which remain uncleared.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241008141044_d46e7f612ce53b0c3133219a36ab81c5ef8f7494dc002452580c086d70028652.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20241008141044_d46e7f612ce53b0c3133219a36ab81c5ef8f7494dc002452580c086d70028652" data-rendition-name="original" width="2340" height="1560" loading="lazy" alt="jhyaple khola landslides"> <figcaption>Photo: SUMAN NEPALI(Photo: Sonia Awale)</figcaption> </figure>  “This disaster occurred because of the locally elected representatives, the Road Department and the contractors,” says local business owner Shyam Kumar Lama. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/when-it-rains-it-pours-ksqprbu3">You cannot blame it on a natural disaster</a>." “They keep tearing down the retaining walls to build haphazard roads, and replace them with brick walls,” adds Lama. “How is a barely one-foot-thick wall going to stop a landslide?” Geologist Sri Kamal Dwivedi says that the Department of Roads has not heeded the geological risks in excavations for road expansion across the country. “The soil above Jhyaple Khola was loosened by torrential rain, causing a high-speed debris flow onto the highway below,” &nbsp;explains Dwivedi. “Additionally, the possibility of disasters like landslides increases when slopes are cut to make way for road expansion.” Transport expert Kamal Pandey says that disasters like the ones in Simaltal and Jhyaple Khola happen frequently because environmental risks are ignored during investments in road expansion. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-revenge-of-the-rivers">The revenge of the rivers</a>, Shamshad Ahmad “New roads are dug up like it is some kind of competition,” says Pandey. “But as long as unmanaged excavation continues without plans in place to mitigate landslides, disasters like the one at Jhyaple Khola will continue to happen.” Indeed, this is not the first time a disaster of this scale has struck in Jhyaple Khola. In 2001, a similar debris flow from higher up the hill buried a vehicle on the highway below, killing nine people.&nbsp; Landslides of smaller scales occur in the area every monsoon, but they do not make it to the news. But even as they are used to the frequent landslides, there is now a new kind of fear among residents.&nbsp; “I am overcome with terror every time I look up to the overcast sky,” says Shyam Lama. “We will never be safe in this place as long as the mountains keep falling on top of us.” &nbsp;

"The mountain fell on top of us"

The Rosi Valley is a ravaged landscape of boulders, tree trunks, overturned tipper trucks, tilted concrete houses and the surrounding mountains with claw marks. A week later, survivors are still in shock. Many who witnessed the 2015 earthquake say this disaster was worse, and it was made even more deadly because of unregulated quarries and stone mines in the Rosi watershed upstream. They blame collusion between contractors and municipality officials. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-revenge-of-the-rivers">The revenge of the rivers</a>, Shamshad Admad  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241007131020_c55becabe58855ee897cacf411e0889923bd699b07d563444f16c009362ed50e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241007131020_c55becabe58855ee897cacf411e0889923bd699b07d563444f16c009362ed50e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi flood"> <figcaption>Panauti and quarries in the Rosi watershed in this Google Map image taken in May 2024.</figcaption> </figure>  Kumar Gurung, 54, was bailing out muddy water from inside his half-demolished house. He had bought the home only two days previously in the village of Bhaleswar with Rs3 million that his son, Dinesh, saved after working in Qatar. “My son’s years of hard work were washed away in minutes by the Rosi,” said Gurung in a raspy voice due to fever. Upriver in Panauti, Ganesh Dahal stares with his head resting on a hand, at what is left of his house which is buried by mud. This was the spot from where he had helped dig out the bodies of his 2 month old grand-daughter and daughter-in-law.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241008151024_2ec425286997c5f75e6d43e8e6a6c5cbf17d9bfe55899518fbddcb9bb87f34ce.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241008151024_2ec425286997c5f75e6d43e8e6a6c5cbf17d9bfe55899518fbddcb9bb87f34ce" data-rendition-name="original" width="720" height="960" loading="lazy" alt="Quarries along the Rosi River in Khusadevi."> <figcaption>Quarries along the Rosi River in Khusadevi.</figcaption> </figure>  “It took just minutes for ten lives to be lost,” he says, explaining that he is counting his daughter-in-law, her baby, and eight goats which were also like family. Ganesh’s wife is weeping silently nearby as relatives console her. Their daughter Puja had just come down a few days previously from her husband’s house to spend time with her parents. It was early morning on 28 September, and it had been raining constantly for two days already. Puja had got up at dawn to feed her baby, given the goats fodder, when the mudslide hit the house and she raised the alarm. The whole family decided to move up the mountain for safety. Ganesh’s daughter-in-law, Gopini, carried the baby and told Puja to run ahead. Just then a bigger slide buried them. “I was a little way behind, but saw the landslide take Gopini and the baby away,” Ganesh remembers.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241007131020_ce23b02a81f46223f4be66d65fc2fa015fc3952ec53234258bfe9b0b0d4370b6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241007131020_ce23b02a81f46223f4be66d65fc2fa015fc3952ec53234258bfe9b0b0d4370b6" data-rendition-name="original" width="4080" height="1884" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi flood"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241007131020_5c078a7eb2fe3b15f653ad7d0c9047339bb2dddd538c395f07e20689eb9c3e63.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241007131020_5c078a7eb2fe3b15f653ad7d0c9047339bb2dddd538c395f07e20689eb9c3e63" data-rendition-name="original" width="4080" height="2296" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi flood"> <figcaption>Photos: ARCHANA DARJI and SHAMSHAD AHMAD</figcaption> </figure>  The wall of mud also buried the home that he had rebuilt after it was damaged by the 2015 earthquake. His sons rushed home from Banepa, and started digging but it was not till the next morning that they found Gopini’s body still clasping the dead baby. “No one helped us, neither the police nor the officials we elected to the municipality,” says Ganesh. “They still have not come.” Homesteads in these mountains are scattered along the slopes, and help is hard to reach. Still, even a week later, no government agency has visited the village. The roads are damaged, so the family cannot even go anywhere. At nearby Jorghatta village, Guman Singh has just retrieved household items from his home which was buried by a mudslide. Scattered around him are bottles of spices, cooking oil and some food.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241007131020_25aa6caddc4d3f305bbdce2809375d1a8a5e2579cc9b3ff50aba8e4f661f9c8f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241007131020_25aa6caddc4d3f305bbdce2809375d1a8a5e2579cc9b3ff50aba8e4f661f9c8f" data-rendition-name="original" width="4080" height="1884" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi flood"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241007131020_8eb71c38cd867ce7e5ead08be2455ddde91a012e04442484499e310a24ca412e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241007131020_8eb71c38cd867ce7e5ead08be2455ddde91a012e04442484499e310a24ca412e" data-rendition-name="original" width="4080" height="1884" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi flood"> </figure>  &nbsp;Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/flood-of-despair">Flood of despair</a>, Rastraraj Bhandari “It’s gone, everything is gone,” he mutters. “We heard it coming down, so we ran for safety. But we lost the house and everything in it. Neighbour Namrata Nagarkoti’s house was also swept away. “It is like I am not conscious, and watching myself going about,” she says, still in shock of what has befallen her family. There was a lot of commotion that morning from neighbours who shouted: “Run, run, there is a flood coming.” She and her family managed to climb to higher ground, but watched the flood take their home away. “We had no time to take anything out,” she says. “We had just harvested the paddy and corn, we had some cash. We have nothing except the clothes we are wearing.” The Rosi River has changed course and is now flowing through Tilak Tamang’s house which only has one wall left. His roadside eatery is filled with slushy mud. “We had no time to take anything out,” Tamang says. “I just have this T-shirt and half pants I am wearing. The Rosi took everything.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241008151028_c2cb6d1529b0f9b6419cc97ab5199ef9aab4a8e54f0bacfa8c4bedcba570560e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20241008151028_c2cb6d1529b0f9b6419cc97ab5199ef9aab4a8e54f0bacfa8c4bedcba570560e" data-rendition-name="original" width="960" height="640" loading="lazy" alt="Downstream from the Rosi after it joins the Sun Kosi, a 200m section of the B P Highway was washed away by the flood on 28 September, cutting off Kathmandu from the eastern parts of the country."> <figcaption>Downstream from the Rosi after it joins the Sun Kosi, a 200m section of the B P Highway was washed away by the flood on 28 September, cutting off Kathmandu from the eastern parts of the country. PEMA LAMA / RSS</figcaption> </figure>  Nearby, Dil Kumari Raut was luckier. She managed to save her livestock and her home, but her paddy field ready for harvest is all gone. “What is important is that I am alive,” she tells us. Of the total 244 people who are so far known to have lost their lives in Nepal’s flood last week, 69 died only in the Rosi Valley. Of the 71 injured, most are still in Dhulikhel Hospital. Some villagers had walked all day to Bhaleswar to get relief supplies and food, they were resting by the road and looked tired, hungry and traumatised. Panauti Municipality is distributing 35kg of rice, 2kg dal, salt, and cooking oil to each family. But some of the villagers complained they got only half the rice. “Most of the relief supplies are going to friends of the local officials and those living along the roads,” says Dinesh Gurung. “For us from up the mountains there is nothing.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241008151028_2dd3673e5ff21a10e60fd3a25b5944292f1c89d04f8f486782679b0505b92d99.png" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20241008151028_2dd3673e5ff21a10e60fd3a25b5944292f1c89d04f8f486782679b0505b92d99" data-rendition-name="original" width="858" height="1280" loading="lazy" alt="How the floodplain of the Sun Kosi at Mulkot, downstream from the Rosi, has been overbuilt between 2003 and 2024. The resort was swept away, as was a part of the highway."> <figcaption>How the floodplain of the Sun Kosi at Mulkot, downstream from the Rosi, has been overbuilt between 2003 and 2024. The resort was swept away, as was a part of the highway. Photo: SOCIAL MEDIA</figcaption> </figure>  With Dasain around the corner, most villagers up here say they have nothing to eat, no safe drinking water, no electricity and no homes. “Where do we go now?” asks Indra Tamang. “Where is the government?” Most villagers said they had never got the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/when-it-rains-it-pours-ksqprbu3">forecast warnings</a> the Department of Meteorology put out about the heavy rainfall a week before the flood hit. Although most in Kathmandu had heard the warnings on the radio or phones, the information had not gotten up here in the mountains of Kavre. “It was normal to expect rain, but we did not know it was going to be so heavy,” says Tanka Banjara, who is the disaster management coordinator for his ward council. “If we had been forewarned, we could have moved to safer places.” Many seniors here do not recall <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/60-dead-64-missing-in-nepal-floods">rain and flood damage on this scale</a> before. There was a flood in 1981 also, but the damage was not as bad. “Our village has become a cemetery. How can we survive here?” asks Ganesh Dahal.&nbsp;

A flood of tears on the Rosi

The Kosi River that flows down from Nepal into India used to be called ‘The Sorrow of Bihar’ because of the floods that historically inundated large parts of the state during the monsoon. Now, it is the Kosi’s tributary Rosi that has become the ‘The Sorrow of Nepal’. But unlike the Kosi, the floods last week on the Rosi had more to do with unregulated quarrying and sand-mining in its catchment and much less with heavy monsoon rains. The Rosi is a small stream at its source below the eastern slope of Pulchoki, which at 2,763m is the highest peak on the rim of Kathmandu Valley. By the time it reaches<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/ancient-panauti-s-french-connection" target="_blank"> Panauti</a>, the mountains flanking the river are mutilated by numerous quarries that crush stones to feed the capital’s construction boom. &nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Vacuum-in-the-villages,1296?fbclid=IwY2xjawFw0mNleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHVa26RvHf8pdcLQPxzP1wBs2aANS78zzDo7dSTleUTNxrxXIq8io6-ujPw_aem_DwMs9OcYoGReKiWJLVYjlg">Vacuum in the villages</a>, Kunda Dixit in Kavre On the other side of Pulchoki on the west is <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3743" target="_blank">Lele, quarries</a> have also scarred the mountains in the catchment of the Nakkhu Khola that flows into Lalitpur and joins the Bagmati River near Chobhar (see map).  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241007151040_a99993c5825e7faa8d0648832620d379500b4389987ccc590acce290c4d3784e.png" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241007151040_a99993c5825e7faa8d0648832620d379500b4389987ccc590acce290c4d3784e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="755" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi Khola flood"> <figcaption>NASA satellite image on 29 September showing new snow and swollen rivers.</figcaption> </figure>  The Pulchoki catchment received more than 800mm of rain on 27-28 September – half the annual average for Kathmandu Valley. There was no way the Rosi and the Nakkhu Rivers could handle such record-breaking rain. But whereas after previous heavy monsoons, the water just spread into the floodplain, both the rivers are now constricted into narrow channels with new settlements, warehouses, poultry farms and garages along the banks. Added to this, the quarries, sand and boulder mining in the upstream watershed have increased the velocity of the water, and added a heavy sediment load into the flood waters.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241007111016_09c6e62f9bb53ac993b0216646b0c2bc09f64c8b53420fe3d86a0bf81d58731c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241007111016_09c6e62f9bb53ac993b0216646b0c2bc09f64c8b53420fe3d86a0bf81d58731c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1334" loading="lazy" alt="Kosi Khola flood"> <figcaption>There are 22 crusher companies and stone mining operations along the Rosi Khola Valley (top). Panauti and quarries in the Rosi watershed in this Google Map image taken in May 2024 (below). </figcaption> </figure>  The main cause of the massive death and destruction in both the Nakkhu and Rosi valleys last week was because the rivers were forced to flow through narrow channels, and the debris-filled waters swept into the populated floodplains. “After two days of heavy rain, the slopes with the open stone mining were saturated and they just melted,” recalls Purshottam Adhikari, chair of Ward 2 of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/electing-better-future,3714" target="_blank">Panauti Municipality</a> where 23 people were killed. Panauti is a 13th century Newar town situated in the fertile Rosi Valley, situated 40km east of Kathmandu. The Shiva temple at the tri-junction of the Rosi with Punyamati and the mythical Lilamati is where the Makar Mela is held in January every 12 years.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024100711108_9569f6828fabd2361b12a54c16e4fbcfe10b45e7c7575de7dce85c9df68bd454.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2024100711108_9569f6828fabd2361b12a54c16e4fbcfe10b45e7c7575de7dce85c9df68bd454" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi Khola NT"> <figcaption>Panauti with the Rosi in happier times. Photo: PRASHANT SHRESTHA</figcaption> </figure>  It appears as if the holy rivers took revenge for the desecration of the natural environment. By Saturday morning 28 September, the turbid brown Rosi had ravaged the town, taking away an entire hospital, many homes, schools, temples, bridges, and crops. “We had never such destruction before, we have not even been able to assess all the destruction,” says Dinesh Lama, chair of Panauti Municpality. Shocked residents <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/flood-of-despair" target="_blank">surveying the damage</a> murmur that the gods must have been angered. They say the river has transformed their town’s topography. Said one: “This destruction is much worse than the 2015 earthquake.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024100711108_7f8c74ba6e7dd56c29daa57082058646f7822d2dcf2f16f61aa67c308e9c269f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2024100711108_7f8c74ba6e7dd56c29daa57082058646f7822d2dcf2f16f61aa67c308e9c269f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="960" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi Khola NT"> <figcaption>Tipper trucks owned by crusher companies were swept away along with homes, roads and bridges along the Rosi. Photo: ARCHANA DARJI</figcaption> </figure>  Adapted from the <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/143083">Nepali original</a> published on <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/">himalkhabar.com</a>.

The revenge of the rivers

I was a teenager when I was first exposed to the impact of climate breakdown, while staying with a family in Phakding in the aftermath of<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lessons-not-learned-from-2015-o2etq6zu"> the 2015 earthquake</a>.&nbsp;
The communities living along the river were so scared of the Imja Tso glacial lake bursting that they hiked a few hours up the mountain every night for safety. During the day, they came back down to run their tea houses for volunteers and tourists still up in the Khumbu.
There is a clear correlation between livelihoods and the climate crisis. Seeing first hand, ten years ago, how the impact of climate change deepens poverty profoundly shifted my perspective, and motivated me to take up a career on climate finance.
I learnt everything about the subject, worked on projects to mobilise millions of dollars for climate action so that those most vulnerable would be safe.&nbsp;
Yet, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/60-dead-64-missing-in-nepal-floods">this weekend’s floods</a> have shown me that on the ground, absolutely nothing has changed. Those most at risk from climate hazards are at even more risk.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/when-it-rains-it-pours-ksqprbu3">When it rains it pours</a>, Sonia Awale
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandus-flash-floods-are-4-decades-in-the-making?fbclid=IwY2xjawFrHMtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRth_4qOARkJl9oz8RSAdrfer4ox2p7uQH28wKYa0SOe1ZNXaS-Oa1qj9g_aem_9kYwBCg8maslUNwV0Dn_Uw">Kathmandu's ‘flash floods’ are 4 decades in the making</a>, Tom Robertson
It is dreadful to realise that the worst is yet to come. We in the climate finance sector are lost in words, actions and false promises of organisations purporting to help vulnerable countries, communities and families.&nbsp;
There are lofty climate targets and hopeful speeches on net-zero ambitions prepared by people who have no idea of the ground reality. Young people I used to respect proudly demonstrate their saviour complex and exoticise the poor to advance their brand image on social media to gain brownie points.&nbsp;
This week, early-rising <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-trail-running-champions">trail runners</a>, youth groups, and local communities became first responders on the muddy banks of rivers in Kathmandu Valley for rescue and recovery. From agencies claiming to work on 'disaster risk reduction', we heard only words and media campaigns.
Am I the only one losing hope in us collectively responding to what the future requires us to do? &nbsp;
Disasters are now increasingly normalised as Nepal crosses the tipping point on climate breakdown. Elitism and inequality has never been more apparent.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/guest-editorial/act-now-on-climate">Act now on climate</a>, Manjeet Dhakal
This week’s tragedy showed how the high and mighty were safe, and the lowly forced to live along river banks were not. Those who are thinking of moving away from flood-prone areas, buying home insurance and protecting themselves from future impact are perhaps the very people abetting the destruction of the natural environment.
The two rivers that saw the most devastation this week, Rosi Khola and Nakkhu Khola, had <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-struggles-to-balance-nature-and-industry">unregulated sand mining and rampant quarrying</a> upstream — all happening in the name of ‘development’.
I spoke with a dairy farmer in Hatiban whose home and 13 cows were swept away by a stream that had turned into a raging mudflow. He is out in the streets now, with just the one cow that survived. He teared up telling me this. So did I.
A carpenter who lives in a small tin hut near the Karmanasa River told me he has had enough and is now headed back to his village. A neighbourhood garbage recycler has spent the past week living inside a stack of large concrete pipes meant to improve Kathmandu's drainage.&nbsp;
A decade after starting to work on climate change, I know nothing about what to actually do to adapt to the impact of the climate crisis like this one. The 800mm of rain in two days was caused by global warming, but the death toll was higher because of corruption and state negligence.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/climate-damage">Climate damage</a>
There are thousands of tragic stories from this flood, most of them will never be heard. Many are already forgotten.&nbsp;
The guilt coming from the privilege of even being in a position to help in times like these eats me up from the inside. I have spoken to many friends this week working tirelessly, without recognition or organisational support, to help with relief and rescue. Many share the same sentiment: the disaster swept away what little optimism we had.
Yet, there is also hope in the way we have all come together knee-deep in mud, carrying relief supplies and cash to those marooned, destitute and homeless. It is clear that top-down <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/cash-for-climate">response from the government</a> or large relief organisations is always too little, too late and too ineffective. Those who lost everything do not know how to work the system.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-breakdown-magnifies-western-nepal-s-woes">Climate breakdown magnifies western Nepal’s woes</a>, Unnati Chaudhary
In such situations, we must take matters into our own hands. We need to be aware of the impending impact of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-climate-threat-multiplier">climate change</a>, and make our own decisions to build and rebuild resilience among those forced to live in harm's way. &nbsp;
The passion to tackle the climate crisis will not come if we do not have personal stories of how we ourselves are affected. Almost everyone in Kathmandu Valley, Kavre, Dhading and elsewhere now has a personal experience of this climate-induced calamity. The question is, what are we going to do about it?&nbsp;
As I write this on Thursday morning on 3 October, it is raining heavily again. &nbsp;
Rastra Raj Bhandari is a co-founder and fellow at the Himalayan Water Project, where he leads the research on climate finance opportunities for the Himalaya. He contributes regularly to Nepali Times on climate change. rastrarajbhandari@gmail.com
<h2>HOW TO HELP</h2>
· Civil society action is filling gaps in relief and rehab until bigger players take over. 9858000000
· Sudan Gurung, <a href="https://www.haminepal.org/">Hami Nepal</a>
· Saurav Rimal, <a href="https://karmayogfoundation.org/">Karmayog Foundation</a>, 9851139412&nbsp;

Flood of despair

This late monsoon storm was not a surprise. Weather forecasts had warned of heavy precipitation a week before, the Met Office predicted heavy rain on 27-28 September, SMS warned people to take precaution, radio stations issued bulletins, and night buses were banned in 56 districts.&nbsp; The tragedy was compounded because we knew what was coming, and did not do enough to prepare. The accurate weather forecast made no real difference on the ground. When it started raining on Thursday morning and did not stop till Saturday, there was no sense of the scale of this emergency. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/60-dead-64-missing-in-nepal-floods">More than 200 people lost their lives, dozens are still missing.</a> Thousands of homes were swept away, Nepal lost nearly half its electricity generation capacity because of damage to power plants, Kathmandu has been nearly cut off with bridges and sections of highways swept away. Yes, this was primarily a natural disaster. Kathmandu Valley and its surroundings got half the average annual precipitation in just 40 hours, the heaviest rainfall measured since records started being kept in 1972. But the high death toll was totally manmade.&nbsp; Three buses were buried by a mudslide in Dhading, killing at least 35 people. This was an eerie reminder of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/100-101-102-hh5uvzf9">Simaltal accident on 12 July </a>when two intercity buses were swept by a mudflow into the Trisuli River at night, killing 62. The buses have still not been found.&nbsp; In both cases, heavy rainfall on a poorly engineered local road up the mountains triggered the initial landslide that swept debris to the highway below. This was manslaughter, not an ‘accident’.&nbsp; We said it then, and we are saying it now: most mountain roads follow no reason or science. It is a corruption-fed activity in which local governments and their cronies plan roads ad hoc and rent their own bulldozers. Debris accumulated during construction is dumped over the edge, where monsoon rains wash them to settlements, farms and highways below. Last weekend’s disaster is a warning that accurate weather early warning is just the first step – it is not enough to prevent a huge loss of life. After the warnings, there should have been door-to-door miking along hazardous river banks urging people to move to higher ground, shelters should have been in place, rescue equipment and rafts pre-positioned, live monitoring of precipitation in the catchments. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) was just posting situationers on social media. The Home Ministry became a Ministry of Condolences and Empty Promises.&nbsp; This disaster is a reminder of the 1993 Central Nepal cloudburst that hit the Lothar Khola in Chitwan, the Kulekhani areas, and highways blocked highways marooning Kathmandu for weeks. More than 1,300 people were killed.&nbsp; The death toll in Kathmandu this time was compounded by the fact that the city has spread into the floodplains of the Vishnumati, Manohara and other tributaries of the Bagmati. Natural waterways have been hemmed in by streets. The rivers were just reclaiming what was theirs.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240930150944_1221b4fb442a21e8d2dbf1aeeca61b7a8d791c117d6a93401f15ba2a95d49a69.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240930150944_1221b4fb442a21e8d2dbf1aeeca61b7a8d791c117d6a93401f15ba2a95d49a69" data-rendition-name="original" width="1949" height="1299" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal floods"> <figcaption>Kathmandu Valley, especially its southern fringes looks like an epicentre of a major quake following the rains. Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  Urban pressure has also forced settlements to move up the Valley’s rim, below steep hillsides with topsoil already saturated in the late monsoon. The torrential downpours caused the slopes to fail. The damage to Upper Tamakosi and dozens of other hydropower plants also is a warning not to put all our eggs in one basket. The Sikkim disaster exactly this time last year was proof that these are at high risk from glacial lake floods and landslide dammed rivers suddenly bursting. More logical would be to build smaller, better designed, plants on many rivers. The Himalaya is also the youngest and most fragile mountain range on earth, Nepal has always had either too much or too little water, and climate breakdown is making this contrast more extreme. Combined, this means we in Nepal live in a multi-disaster prone country with seismic, hydrological and climate risks.&nbsp; After multiple floods in early 1990s, a Japanese grant helped set up the Disaster Prevention Technical Centre (DPTC) in Pulchowk, which was later renamed the Department of Water Induced Disaster Management. We have not heard much from them lately. With the government AWOL, it is ordinary Nepalis who have shown extraordinary courage in saving those being swept by flood water, rescuing babies on canoes (pictured), or digging for passengers trapped in buses buried by landslides. The Nepal Army and the Police rescued thousands, but there was an absence of coordination.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240930150944_cb55edb93eb3aad169b22bc4dec06b5478746fbe75417c628bf671ec698f7912.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240930150944_cb55edb93eb3aad169b22bc4dec06b5478746fbe75417c628bf671ec698f7912" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="720" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal floods"> <figcaption>Photo: SOCIAL MEDIA</figcaption> </figure>  Now, the attention must focus on urgent relief and rehabilitation. But that might be a tall ask just before everything shuts down for Dasain, and when governance fails, lack of accountability and transparency is the norm even without holidays.&nbsp; Sonia Awale

When it rains it pours

112 dead, 65 missing in Nepal floods

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368ef909c7e80680e035988jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/>After a night of rainfall, people woke up to flooded homes and streets in several parts of Bhaktapur on Thursday morning.Kathmandu Valley received 129.6mm of rainfall in 10 hours beginning late Wednesday night, and the Hanumante Khola, a tributary of Bagmati River, overflowed into surrounding roads, homes and fields by morning. Experts said although rainfall had been heavy, the primary cause of the floods was haphazard house, road and wall construction along the floodplain on the river.Poor drainage and infrastructure also aggravated the problem, leaving hundreds of people stranded and schools closed. The army and the armed police were called in for rescue work.Posting pictures of flooded streets on social media, some people ridiculed PM KP Oli for dreaming about an ocean-going merchant marine rather than fixing more urgent  problems of road, drainage and transportation on land.The criticism seems to have stung the ruling party. In Parliament, Bhaktapur MP Mahesh Basnet asked the government to arrest people under the cyber law for ridiculing the PM's dream of launching ships, instead of showing sympathy for flood victims.All photos: Bikram Rai<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368ef949c7e80680e035989jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368ef979c7e80680e03598ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368ef9b9c7e80680e03598bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368ef9e9c7e80680e03598cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368efa19c7e80680e03598djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368efa49c7e80680e03598ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368efa89c7e80680e03598fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">

Bhaktapur inundated

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

Starting 17 September Turkish Airlines will fly daily to Seville, one of Spain’s major tourist draws. This is Turkish’s sixth destination in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao. Seville is in the Andalusia region on Spain’s south coast with a rich Moor history. There are approximately 30,000 Nepalis living in Spain.&nbsp;

Turkish to Seville

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prabalgurung/" target="_blank">Prabal Gurung</a> left Nepal for New York in 1999 to escape years of bullying, sexism and homophobia, and to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqN0VaoAI5w" target="_blank">realised his dream</a>, but did not escape discrimination and racism in the new world. Propelled by passion for fashion, Gurung overcame everything America threw at him. He has attained <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/prabal-gurung-recalls-his-first-met-gala-when-zoe-saldana-was-at-his-side?srsltid=AfmBOooy-H0oGgxMit864FnW_Pmw8mUnV8rYrh-co-f6OyYK6m2ip5hP" target="_blank">fame and recognition</a> for his haute couture dress designs while remaining true to his Nepali roots, and is even more resolute in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSmNauyzACk" target="_blank">fighting prejudice</a> in all its forms. Prabal Gurung’s newly-released memoir <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Walk-Like-Girl-Memoir/dp/B0DG11HCDQ?fbclid=IwY2xjawKZfpxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHuZcIJO2OXyXcRm1oq1iG6wzeoF7VJFrQ7GXOFI0YxuZZ4id_CNvSZSZZIna_aem_pG_mOKG73RTnYvN8JaC4fA">Walk Like a Girl</a> is a saga of harrowing abuse in boarding schools in Nepal and India, only finding himself facing a different kind of bullying in the US. He prevails over it all to be where he is today: an award-winning American fashion designer with his own label. Walk Like a Girl was launched last week in New York at a time when everything Gurung fought for — tolerance, inclusion and diversity — are in retreat in his adopted country because of a president who has espoused a culture of bullying. The book is a searing, raw exposé of how cruel and abusive people can be even at a young age in school. On the other hand, it also shows that there are generous, compassionate and open-minded souls out there. In his book, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4le_uWX7YE">Prabal Gurung</a> calls out those who tormented and tried to hold him back (some of their names have been altered). The moral of his story is: resist, never stop believing in yourself, do not let others define you, never lose sight of your dream, and help those who have been kept out. “Walk like a girl” was a slur used by bullies back in school in Nepal and India for Gurung’s effeminate ways. He fought back then, and he is still resisting by turning those words into something to be proud of.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1253" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung NT"> <figcaption>Prabal Gurung at home in Kathmandu in the 1990s.</figcaption> </figure>  “Living through it all was one thing, but writing about it is one of the hardest things I have done in my life,” admitted Gurung during the launch. “I broke down constantly during the six-year writing process.” He continues: “I did not want this to be a victim’s book. I did not want to burden my readers with my emotions. I wanted my struggle to be an inspiration for others facing what I faced. I am grateful to those who bullied me in school, they made me a stronger person ready to face the world.” Indeed, this book is a departure from his earlier one titled simply, Prabal Gurung (Abrams, 2019), which was a lush pictorial autobiography of his career in fashion. Walk Like a Girl is not a typical fashion book, it is an intimate tale of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16997">Gurung’s travails and triumphs</a>, and how he willed himself to succeed. Prabal pays a lavish tribute to his mother Durga Rana. We find out she is a descendant of the first wife of the eldest son of Jang Bahadur Rana who was banished to Palpa in the late 19th century. Prabal’s father served in the Singapore Police and that is where he was born before the family returned to Nepal when he was four. Gurung relates with brutal honesty about the violence his mother endured from his father. Durga raises three children as a single mother in Nepal, and Prabal credits her for his fierce determination to resist patriarchy and injustice, which in time manifests itself in his hyper-feminine and subversive dress designs. Writing the book has been a cathartic experience for Gurung, who says he is now relieved of the burdens of his past. It no longer haunts him, and he does not have to prove anything to anyone anymore. Walk Like a Girl has life lessons not just for the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJmOcSgxdWz/" target="_blank">fashion industry</a>, but for every other profession. How can my job serve a greater cause? Gurung tells us his work is <a href="https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/why-designer-prabal-gurung-doesnt-want-just-stick-fashion" target="_blank">bigger than just making clothes</a>, it is about making the world a better place because it could do with a lot of improvement.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1516" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung"> </figure>  This story of chasing the American dream may sound familiar to many immigrants: knocking on doors for jobs, rejections, trying to survive from day to day on expensive rent, and dealing with subtle racism in white America. Gurung finds racism is rife, and he is often mockingly called ‘gaysian’. He writes: ‘There was a strong hypocrisy — this idea of independence felt like a marketting ruse … and for all the talk of feminism in America, these high society women were trapped by the patriarchy just like in Nepal and India.’ After a trek to the Khumbu region in 2013, Gurung is inspired to use the colours, palette and textures of Nepal for his collection exhibited on Manhattan’s 8th Avenue. A major buyer tells him bluntly: “Stick to making pretty dresses … if I need to see a collection like this, I could buy a copy of National Geographic.” The New York Times was equally dismissive: ‘The designer tries to draw connections between blistered techo-fabric used to construct it and the topography of his homeland, Nepal. But, at the moment, he has lost his map.’ One potential investor tells Gurung he cannot design for Americana because “you do not look American”. Gurung wants to use expletives, but restrains himself. After a fundraiser in New York for the Nepal earthquake in 2015, some belittled his effort, saying: “Here comes the saviour."&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/prabal-gurung-by-prabal-gurung">Prabal Gurung by Prabal Gurung</a>, Kunda Dixit The Gurkha DNA must be dominant in Prabal Gurung’s genes because he does not take such mistreatment lying down. When asked by a fashion publicist why he was designing clothes for fat people, he snaps back: “Because of people like you.” He joins the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, launches the Shikshya Foundation charity in Nepal, and has powerful allies among celebrities who wear clothes he designed: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sara Jessica Parker, Kamala Harris, Deepika Padukone … it is a long list.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="1534" loading="lazy" alt="Being Prabal Gurung by design"> <figcaption>Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wearing Atelier Prabal Gurung’s design for Met Gala 2025 in which the theme was ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’. </figcaption> </figure>  “I don’t dress women to look beautiful, they already are,” Gurung says. “I try to bring out their innate strength and grace.” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17908766880140171/" target="_blank">Admirers</a> tell Gurung he makes it all look so easy, but he used to put up a strong facade to not show his own vulnerabilities in public. “I was closed because of my childhood experiences,” he says. “I was always on guard to defend myself because I never knew where the next punch would come from.” But in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVepzPA210" target="_blank">Walk Like a Girl,</a> Gurung comes to terms with his vulnerability, and bares his soul. It has not been easy, it took sustained will power and support from his mother, sister Kumudini and a circle of close friends. “I made unbelonging my power,” he says. “Nepal is where I still have my heart and soul. Nepal grounds you. It is where people go to find themselves. But I escaped.” Recently appointed vice-chair of the <a href="https://cfda.com/about-cfda" target="_blank">Council of American Fashion Designers</a>, Gurung says: “I can’t believe I am here, it feels like it is happening to someone else. Writing this book, the healing has finally begun.” <h2>‘Everything is better in color’</h2> The Met Gala was two weeks later, and my table was an example of everything I’d been fighting for all these years as my guests represented everything I believed in: dynamic, powerful, influential women who were unapologetically original and unabashedly graceful. I was grateful to Anna for inviting me to host and dress a table that reflected my ethos—and for her guidance in doing so. I was also aware of the privilege as one of the first-­ever Asian fashion designers—not just from Nepal, but from the entire continent— to get the opportunity to do so. That fact was not lost on me. I reached out beyond the expected Hollywood celebrities and well-­known socialites to curate a table of exceptional women who inspired me. I invited Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt for their first-­ever Met Galas, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Mindy Kaling, Camila Cabello, Ashley Park, Denée Benton, KiKi Layne, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Grace Elizabeth. Together we checked many boxes: Asian, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous, each woman undeniably chic and powerful, a dazzling array of skin tones and experiences that proved my decades‑in‑the-­making hypothesis: everything is better in color. Excerpt from Walk Like a Girl Viking © 2025 by Prabal Gurung  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;