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The country has recorded 5,966 incidents of disaster across the country so far since April 14, 2025.

A total of 424 people lost their lives and 1,643 people sustained injuries in such incidents. 

According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, 38 people went missing and 11,535 families were affected in such incidents.

The highest incident of fire took place during the period, added authority. 

A total of  2,692 fire incidents occurred where 75 people lost their lives while 442 people were injured and 2,996 families were affected. 

Similarly, the country recorded 577 incidents of landslides where 71 people were killed, five are still missing and 80 were injured. 

A total of 316 incidents of flood took place during the period while 427 of heavy rainfall, 352 of lightning, 580 of snakebite, 186 of forest fire, 290 of wind, 422 of animal attack.

Likewise, 105 cases of high-altitude were recorded so far since April 14, 2025 as well as five of avalanche, seven of earthquake, two of boat collapse, added the Authority.   

According to the Authority, incidents of fire are on rise in recent periods.

President Ram Chandra Paudel attended the 'Basanta Shrawan' ceremony at Nasal Chowk, Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square, on Friday morning to mark Basanta Panchami.

During the ceremony, the President listened to the hymns and the melody played as per the Vedic rituals. 

There is a tradition of the Head of State attending this ritual at the Nasal Chowk of Hanumandhoka on the day of Magh Shukla Panchami (the fifth day of the waxing moon in the month of Magh according to the lunar calendar). This tradition has started since the Malla period. 

On the occasion, the chief priest of Hanumandhoka Management Office presented President Paudel with Abhishek, tika, garland, and flower offerings. President Paudel worshiped Goddess Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge. 

A contingent of the Nepal Army presented a ceremonial salute to the President on the occasion.

The ceremony was attended by First Lady Sabita Paudel, Vice President Ram Sahaya Prasad Yadav, Prime Minister Sushila Karki, National Assembly Chairperson Narayan Prasad Dahal, ministers, heads of constitutional bodies, Sunita Dangol, Acting mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, and other distinguished guests. 

Basanta Panchami is traditionally observed by worshipping Goddess Saraswati, and it is believed that performing Basanta Shrawan on this day brings happiness, peace, and prosperity.

Basanta Panchami is being celebrated across the country by paying homage to Goddess Saraswati, known as the goddess of knowledge, on Friday. 

Also known as Saraswati Puja, writers, artists, journalists, teachers and students worship their tools, pen, paper, pencil and musical instruments as goddess Saraswati.

There is also a belief that you will be blessed if you begin your learning after worshiping Saraswati. The day is also regarded as auspicious for social and religious functions like marriage, bratabanda, gufa and belbibaha.

It is considered auspicious to start education for children and to pierce their nose and ears. Devotees, especially students, throng the temples of Goddess Saraswati since early morning today.

Nepal on Friday signed an Emission Reductions Purchase Agreement (ERPA) with the LEAF Coalition, paving the way for the potential sale of up to 4 million tonnes of verified emission reductions from its jurisdictional REDD+ program across Gandaki, Bagmati and Lumbini Provinces. 

The deal, valued at an estimated USD 40 million or more, marks Nepal’s first formal entry into high-integrity jurisdictional carbon markets and represents one of the largest performance-based forest finance opportunities in the country’s history.

The transaction will be facilitated by Emergent, the LEAF Coalition’s intermediary, and implemented under the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) using its TREES standard. 

The standard requires stringent carbon accounting, robust forest monitoring, safeguards for Indigenous Peoples’ rights, permanence and leakage controls, and transparent benefit-sharing mechanisms.

The LEAF Coalition is among the world’s largest public–private initiatives supporting high-integrity forest carbon finance. 

Participating countries are offered a guaranteed floor price of USD 10 per ton for jurisdictional REDD+ credits, providing a stable incentive for scaling credible forest conservation programmes at national and subnational levels.

“This marks an important milestone for Nepal, reflecting the culmination of decades of work to protect forests, establish credible monitoring systems, and place communities at the centre of forest stewardship,” said Mario Boccucci, Head of the UN-REDD Secretariat. He added that the agreement positions Nepal to expand jurisdictional approaches and engage global markets that reward integrity, scale and long-term performance.

Once payments are accessed, revenues will be distributed through Nepal’s emerging benefit-sharing framework. 

Under current provisions, 80 percent of proceeds will be channeled to community forest user groups, Indigenous Peoples, local governments and other implementing entities, underscoring the central role of communities in conserving and restoring the country’s forests.

“This represents an important milestone in Nepal’s long-standing efforts to protect forests and addressing climate change, and demonstrates Nepal’s commitment and readiness to deliver verified emission reductions, which can unlock significant payments from public and private buyers to support Nepal in building a sustainable economy that supports healthy forests and resilient communities,”  says Einar Telnes, Energy and Climate counsellor at the Norway Embassy in Nepal.   

Over recent years, Nepal has strengthened the institutional, technical and safeguard systems required for high-integrity jurisdictional REDD+, including enhanced monitoring capacity and governance arrangements. The ERPA is expected to enable the country to scale forest-based climate action while linking local stewardship efforts to global results-based finance.