Mankumari Chaudhary rarely sleeps these days. She is afraid that the river close to her home could flood anytime during night and wreak havoc.
Chaudhary lives in a settlement made largely of small hutments on the banks of Babai River in Bardiya.
She says she lies awake if it is raining at night, planning how to escape and what belongings to save in an event of a flood. “I go out to see if the river is getting bigger, come back and go back again,” says Chaudhary. “I have to for the safety of my home and my family.”
Chaudhary’s fear is shared by all the people in her settlement. There is no embankment here to protect the villagers from a flood. Whenever it rains heavily, the villagers move to a shelter house with their precious belongings and cattle. This has been their routine every monsoon.
Scores of settlements in places like Gulariya, Thakurbaba, Rajapur and Madhuban are vulnerable to floods, but the authorities have done little to address their problem.
According to a local government representative, Bardiya requires a major river control program to mitigate the risk of water-induced disasters. “The program needs a large budget, which we don’t have,” he says.
The risk of river breaching their banks and entering human settlements is present across the Tarai plains. It is a perennial problem that gets forgotten once the monsoon has retreated.
“Living in fear of flood during rainy season has become like a routine for us,” laments Karbir Pun Magar of Tikapur, Kailali.
Last monsoon, the rain-swollen Karnali River had destroyed the embankment close to Magar’s village and caused massive property damage.
“The embankment has been repaired but the danger of the river breaching the structure at the same area remains,” says Magar.
In the eastern district of Jhapa, too, flood threats go up during the rainy season. The District Disaster Preparedness Management Committee has identified 11 municipalities as highly vulnerable. The government initiated an embankment program in rivers like Mechi, Deumai, Tiring and Kankai remains incomplete.
“The Finance Ministry did not release sufficient budget,” says Rupnarayan Adhikari, chief of the program.
Banke’s Emergency Operation Center has estimated that this year’s monsoon could affect over 25,000 families across the district. It is among the most vulnerable districts in terms of flood. People living in the flood-vulnerable areas say the government thinks of them only after the disaster has struck their homes.
Very little attention is paid towards preventing floods.
As many as 31 people lost their lives and properties worth millions were destroyed in flood-related incidents over the past five years.
