Floods and landslides have wreaked so much havoc at Limchungbung Rural Municipality in Udayapur that the local unit has been declared a crisis zone.

To help the flood-and landslide-affected households, municipality representatives have urged the provincial government to deliver special relief packages.

“The landslides and floods, which have greatly affected various road sections here, have disrupted normal life,” said Major Kumar Rai, chairman of the rural municipality.

Getting food to the flood-affected is proving to be a challenge. Food grain production in Limchungbung had dipped drastically due to a severe drought earlier in the year.

“We cannot transport food grains to the needed places due to damaged road sections. The municipality is reeling from a shortage of drinking water, food grains, medicines and other essentials, and disrupted road connectivity,” said Rai.

Landslides have damaged parts of the Limchungbung-Gaighat and Katari-Limchungbung road sections, obstructing vehicular movement.

Bhakta Bahadur Rai, administrative officer of the rural municipality, said the local unit has no budget to repair the damaged road sections.

“Since we don’t have the necessary budget, we cannot immediately clear the landslide debris from the road,” Rai said.

To make matters worse, the prolonged drought from mid-March to mid-April greatly affected the cultivation of maize—the main food crop in Limchungbang, according to Rai.

“Because the harvests were bad this year, we need to source food from other places. But we cannot transport food grains from Gaighat or Katari due to the obstruction in various road networks,” said Rai. The rural municipality has urged the provincial government to help repair the damaged road section.

Additionally, the obstruction of roads has inconvenienced the villagers, who complain of problems in taking patients to the District Hospital. Following the halt in vehicular movement, villagers say they now have to walk for at least two days to reach Mukurchi and Katari.

The landslides also swept away various drinking water pipelines in the municipality, because of which the locals are reeling from a shortage of drinking water.

Likewise, Tapli Rural Municipality in the district is reeling from a shortage of food grains and other essentials after landslides damaged various sections of the Majhkharka-Rupatar and Betini-Rupatar road sections.

Uddhav Singh Thapa, chairman of the rural municipality, said they are not in a condition to repair the damaged road sections anytime soon.

Meanwhile, authorities are preparing to airlift food to the people living in landslides and floods affected areas.

Binod Katuwal, district chairman of the Nepal Communist Party, said, “Vehicular movement cannot be resumed soon. The provincial government will start initiatives to transport food to the affected areas.” 

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