The National Reconstruction Authority and Nepal Electricity Authority have initiated the geological study of some human settlements that are at high risk of landslides in Sindhupalchok district.

A study team reached the district and started its work on Friday. The team is scheduled to study the landslide-prone settlements in Lidi, Sanchagaun, Sanu Nampha and Bolde of Jugal Rural Municipality; Ghumthang and Jambo of Baharabise Municipality; and Phulpingkatti and Bulkote of Bhotekoshi Rural Municipality.

“The study team has been mobilised from the centre. We are just coordinating with them,” said Santosh Niraula, chief at the district project implementation unit of the National Reconstruction Authority. The settlements that are at high risk of landslides have been chosen for the geological survey in the first phase, he added. According to Niraula, six geologists from the centre and two technicians from the district are in the team.

The local people of Lidi, however, say that various teams have visited their settlement in the name of study but their problems remain unsolved.

“Several teams visit the settlement for study and inspection. But they do not take any initiatives to relocate the settlement to a safer location. I think we will have to live under the constant threat of landslides forever,” said Tsering Tamang of Lidi.

Sindhupalchok is one of the hardest-hit districts by natural disasters. As many as 73 people died in different landslides in Bahrabise Municipality, Melamchi Municipality, Bhotekoshi Rural Municipality and Jugal Rural Municipality this year alone; forty-two people went missing in those landslides. This year’s landslides destroyed 130 houses and displaced 3,290 people in the district.

In 2014, a massive landslide in Jure had killed 145 people and displaced 127 families. Sindhupalchok had been one of the worst-hit districts by the 2015 earthquakes as well. A total of 3,575 people were killed in the earthquake—the highest figure in a single district.

As per the report presented by the national disaster risk reduction and management authority under the Ministry of Home Affairs in July, as many as 3,375 households in several settlements of Sindhupalchok are at high risk of landslides.

A parliamentary team had also inspected the landslide-affected settlements in Sindhupalchok in October.

“Various teams have come to inspect the settlements at risk but the relocation process is yet to begin. The government should immediately identify the settlements at high risk and shift them to safer locations,” said Nima Lama, member of the Bagmati Provincial Assembly representing Sindhupalchok.