Nepal can no longer afford to treat natural disasters as seasonal misfortunes or acts of fate. Every year, floods, landslides, earthquakes, avalanches and other calamities claim lives, destroy property and cripple vital infrastructure. While natural disasters cannot always be prevented, the scale of their destruction can be substantially reduced. What Nepal lacks is not warnings, but preparedness, planning and the political will to act before disaster strikes.
The devastating earthquake of 2015 weakened rocks and mountain slopes across many parts of the country. Climate change has further aggravated the risks, increasing the threat of avalanches, glacier-related disasters and glacial lake outbursts. Yet, despite repeated warnings from scientists and experts, disaster preparedness remains largely reactive. Governments tend to mobilize only after lives have been lost and infrastructure destroyed.
This year’s rockslide in the Langtang Himal and the devastating mud-flood in the Lende River, also known as the Bhotekoshi, demonstrated the enormous risks Nepal faces. The loss of lives, homes, roads and other infrastructure is an irreparable national loss. These disasters should not simply be followed by compensation packages and political statements. They must trigger a fundamental review of the country’s disaster-preparedness policies.
The flooding of the Trishuli River and the destruction of a section of the Prithvi Highway at Krishnabhir exposed another glaring weakness. The disruption of this major transportation lifeline halted the regular supply of essential commodities, including LPG cooking gas, for more than a week. More alarming was the condition of the alternative routes. The Tribhuvan Highway and Kanti Highway were not adequately maintained to handle emergency traffic. Consequently, Kathmandu was virtually cut off from normal supplies.
This is not merely a natural-disaster problem; it is a failure of preparedness and infrastructure management.
The government must stop waiting for disasters to expose the same weaknesses year after year. Vulnerable highways, bridges, settlements and hydropower projects must be identified and regularly assessed. Early-warning and disaster-monitoring systems must be strengthened, and emergency response mechanisms must be made functional at all levels of government.
Equally important, Nepal must maintain strategic buffer stocks of fuel, LPG, food, medicines and other essential commodities in and around major population centres. Alternative highways must be maintained throughout the year, not hurriedly repaired when the principal road is destroyed.
Disaster preparedness should be treated as a matter of national security. Every rupee spent on prevention can save many times more in reconstruction—and, more importantly, save human lives.
Natural disasters may be unavoidable. Governmental negligence is not. Nepal must learn from every disaster and prepare before the next one strikes, rather than mourn, compensate and rebuild after it is too late.
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