Sangdo Maya Hyolmo, a 43-year-old woman from Hyolmo Tole in ward 1 of Helambu Rural Municipality, lost her house to the floods that wreaked havoc in the rural municipality two years ago.

Hyolmo has since been living in a temporary shed at Ghyangual in the same ward.

According to Hyolmo, there are around 200 displaced people like her living in temporary shelters in Ghyangual. “Those who could afford to move out of the temporary shelters have already left. But people like me with nowhere else to go are left behind,” she said. “We are waiting for the government to relocate us to safety before the monsoon rains get worse.”

Hyolmo had hoped that the government would work towards protecting the vulnerable settlements and reconstruction of the physical infrastructure, but she has begun losing hope.

“All the victims, including me, can do nothing but wait for help,” she said.

Floods in the Melamchi and Indrawati rivers two years ago displaced more than 500 families in Melamchi and Indrawati rural municipalities and the surrounding areas, according to the District Police Office.

The flooded Melamchi River took five lives, displaced several households in the villages in both rural municipalities and destroyed 17 fish farms, six hotels, a school, two government offices, six suspension bridges, six motorable bridges, a culvert, and a Bailey bridge connecting Helambu and Melamchi rural municipalities.

Two years after the disaster, the displaced are still living in temporary shelters and are yet to be resettled. The reconstruction of houses and infrastructure in the affected areas has not gained momentum.

According to the local unit, the lack of sufficient funds has affected the reconstruction and resettlement efforts. “The reconstruction has slowed because the budget allocated by the provincial government for the same could not be utilised on time,” said Aitaman Tamang, mayor of the Melamchi Municipality. “Funds allocated from the province and local governments have been used to build embankments and roads to control Melamchi floods but all those efforts do not seem to be enough,” he said. According to him, the municipality and the Bagmati provincial government have collectively spent Rs50 million this monsoon season to build embankments along the Melamchi River to control floods.

A Bailey bridge across the Melamchi river is currently under construction at the cost of Rs4 million. The bridge will connect Indrawati, Helambu, and Panchpokhari Thangpal rural municipalities with Melamchi Municipality.

Another Bailey bridge over the Melamchi River has been installed at Chanaute in Helambu Rural Municipality.

While those who could afford to relocate have migrated out of the district, others are still living a very hard life. Around 25 displaced families are still living in rented rooms in Melamchi Bazar in the hopes of being relocated by the authorities.

The local units say the provincial and federal governments have not done enough for the displaced.

“Apart from these bridges at Chanaute and the motorable bridge across the Indrawati River, no other physical infrastructure has been rebuilt in the disaster-affected areas. The reconstruction work would have been completed in the area if the federal and provincial governments had shared their expertise and resources with us, but they have not shown significant interest,” said Tamang.

Similarly, Nimagyaljen Sherpa, chairman of Helambu Rural Municipality, said that the federal and provincial governments have not done anything significant for the victims of the 2021 disaster.

“I submitted a 19-point memorandum to the prime minister asking for a long-term solution to the problems faced by Sindhupalchok locals,” said Sherpa. “But I don’t carry much hope because he too only gave me verbal assurances like other high-level ministers.”

“Temporary housing has been constructed for more than 150 displaced families out of the total 380 in Helambu. All of us are extremely worried about this monsoon season because Sindhupalchok is prone to floods and landslides,” said Sagar Shrestha, a local. “The federal government does not seem to have taken the damage caused by the Melamchi floods seriously. Due to the lack of budget, the reconstruction of public physical infrastructure and even housing for the displaced has not been able to gain momentum. Only embankment work is not going to prevent floods. We need a long-term solution to prevent future disasters.”

According to Shrestha, the local people in coordination with the Nepal Army, Armed Police Force, and Nepal Police, are contributing to the construction of embankments along the river. Last year the then home minister Balkrishna Khand, who is currently in jail in connection with the Bhutanese refugee scam, assigned a team of experts and geologists to carry out a geological study in Bhemanthang, Helambu, the source of the Melamchi flood.

“The team who conducted the study highlighted the need to build dams in some areas of the Melamchi River in Ambathan to prevent landslides in Bhemathang. The report also suggested moving the headworks of the Melamchi drinking water project from Ambathan to somewhere else,” said Shrestha. “The report was made public, but there has been no preparation to that effect.”