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Koshi calamity destroys infrastructures, could take a long time in reconstruction

The calamity triggered by unprecedented flooding of Saptakoshi river has destroyed numerous vital infrastructures including road, electricity, drinking water, telephone and buildings in the eastern region.

According to the Home Ministry, over 7000 households consisting of over 40,000 people have been displaced. Nearly 1000 houses have been swept away and 3000 houses affected badly.

Thir Bahadur GC, a senior official at the Home Ministry, said that infrastructures including roads, electricity, telephone and drinking water have been broken down or destroyed in around one dozen VDCs of Sunsari district.

“Eastern Nepal has been virtually cut-off from the rest of the country because about 15 kilometers of the only East West highway has been either swept away or is under waters. Due to damages to underground optical fibre cables, the telephone connection to the east was cut off, which has now been substantially restored barring services from a few landline exchange. Similarly, public facilities such as school buildings, government offices and private properties have also been smashed,” Finance Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai said. He estimated the total loss to be over one billion Nepali rupees. On Wednesday, one pole carrying electricity transmission from India fell down disrupting about 60 MW of power supply to the country – leading to fresh increase in load shedding hours in the capital.

About 5500 hectares of cultivable land and crops worth around 300 million rupees have been destroyed.

“As the rainy season is not over yet, and due to diversion of the substantial portion of water, immediate restoration of spurs and embankments may not be possible,” Dr. Bhattarai said.

Officials are saying it could take ‘months’ before the vital infrastructures can be restored. Already transporters and businesses of the eastern region have been stranded and many of them have started plying vehicles via a circuitous Indian route to reach other parts of Nepal.

According to Kantipur Daily, more than 1,500 buses used to operate in the highway, ferrying more than 60,000 people from eastern Nepal to districts beyond Koshi river and Kathmandu everyday.

As the vehicular movement remains disrupted in the highway due to the floods, more than 12,000 transportation workers have been rendered jobless.

Left with no option, passengers are now thronging at the Biratnagar airport seeking plane tickets to their desired destinations. Due to increase in number of passengers, Buddha and Yeti Air have doubled their flights. Still, many passengers are complaining that they are not getting tickets on time and are demanding more flights. nepalnews.com sd Aug 29 08