Climate

As late monsoon rains continue to lash mid- and far-western Nepal, at least four members of a family have been killed in a landslide in Humla, and 13 people have gone missing near another landslide site in neighbouring Kalikot district. 

The Meteorological Forecasting Division in Kathmandu said rains and thunderstorms are continuing in Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces of western Nepal, and added that they are unlikely to stop immediately. 

While those killed in Humla landslide have been identified, continuing rains have hampered efforts to mount rescue operation to find the whereabouts of those missing at Tilakarnali river bank in Ranchuli village of Tilagupha-4, Kalikot. 

Chief District Officer of Kalikot Ram Hari Sharma said the 13 were members of a funeral procession that had gone to the bank of Tila Karnali river to cremate a dead body.

All of them are residents of Ranchuli village in Tilagupha municipality-4, he said. Quoting eyewitnesses, he added that those missing had fled the cremation site after a huge landslide occurred in the area. Rescue efforts will begin soon after the rains stop, he added.

In north-western Humla district, four members of the family of Deuchya Bika, of Chankheli-6, Masidhar-Denbada, died after a landslide, triggered by torrential overnight rain, fell over Bika’s house.

The dead include Bika’s mother, a son and two daughters, according to Sita Pariyar, chief district officer of Humla.

In Kalikot’s Ranchuli village, meanwhile, nearly 100 houses could be affected by the landslide, although exact details are yet unknown, according to CDO Sharma.

The devastating landslide may have forced nearly 500 people to seek shelter in the community school building, he said.

Earlier in the week, nine people went missing in a landslide in nearby Mugu district, reports said on Sunday. The landslide affected nearly 150 families in Salim village of Chhayanath Rara municipality-11.

Water-induced disasters such as heavy rains and landslides claim hundreds of lives and destroy critical infrastructure and agriculture crops across Nepal every year, particularly during the monsoon season. 

In recent times, with global warming and climate change having an effect in the Himalayan region, unseasonal and often very heavy rains have become common.

Update: Around 1700 NST, fresh reports from Kalikot said two of the 13 missing have been found alive; they had been able to pull themselves out alive from the debris of the landslide.