At least six people died while four others went missing when a landslide swept away six houses in ward 3 of Doramba-Shailung Rural Municipality of Ramechhap district on Saturday night.

The landslide triggered by heavy rains struck Lekharka village at around midnight on Saturday. According to the District Police Office in Ramechhap, Chandika Thapa Magar, 32, and her 18-month-old son Aamus; Urmila Pahari, 40; Bigyan Pahari, 18; Sandip Pahari, 17; and Santosh Pahari, 14; perished in the landslide. Chandika was a teacher at the local Kusheshwar Basic School.

Four villagers went missing in the calamity. Phadke Pahari, 75; Kale Pahari, 55; Jhyaukiri Pahari, 54; and Binda Pahari, 23; are missing. Security personnel from the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force continued the search operation since early Sunday morning but they could not locate the missing victims over the day.

The rescuers managed to save 10-year-old Anjana Pahari, who was staying in Chandika’s house when the incident occurred. Anjana, who sustained injuries in the incident, is receiving treatment at Dhulikhel Hospital in Kavrepalanchok.

The incident site is a remote village in western part of Ramechhap district.

According to the locals, heavy rains lashed the area since Saturday afternoon triggering multiple landslides in the Lekharka area and causing many houses to develop cracks.

Main Kumar Moktan, chairman of Doramba-Shailung Rural Municipality, said that 65 families were displaced due to the landslides in the Lekharka area. “Around 180 displaced people of 65 families have currently been housed at Kantheshwar Secondary School and the rural municipality’s building,” said Moktan.

The rural roads connecting the Lekharka area were disrupted due to floods and landslides at several places. A motorable bridge linking wards 2 and 3 of Doramba-Shailung were washed away while two suspension bridges across the Chhangkhola and Ghattekhola streams have also been swept away.

“Almost all houses in Lekharka have developed cracks, and some are on the verge of collapse. There is no alternative to relocating the entire settlement,” said Moktan. According to him, ward 2 has also been affected by landslides. Sixty families of Bhandare village have been displaced due to landslides, he added.

The rural municipality plans to start distributing relief materials to the displaced families from Monday as the security personnel and the people’s representatives were busy with rescuing operations and relocating the displaced to safer locations on Sunday.

Chief District Officer of Ramechhap Anita Niraula said that the displaced families were moved to safety. “We have requested the local unit to manage the displaced people. The district natural disaster management committee will soon start managing temporary shelter for the displaced families and providing immediate relief,” said Niraula. According to her, the district administration will urge the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority to conduct a geographical study of Lekharka village.

Similarly in Myagdi, sludge triggered by heavy monsoon rains buried three houses at Anandabagar in ward 1 of Beni Municipality on Saturday night. The houses belonging to Seti Thapa Magar, Keshav Thapa and Sochina Gharti Magar were damaged by the disaster.

Seti’s house was completely destroyed by the sludge, while the houses of Keshav and Sochina were partially damaged. “The floods coupled with sludge inundated the settlement because a hume pipe [drainage pipe] installed in the rivulet along the Beni-Baglung road just above the village was too small to handle the rainwater,” said Sama Kumari Thapa, a local.

The floodwaters overflowed to the paddyfields and entered the settlement, which sits about 500 metres below the road. The floods also damaged around 60 ropani (3.05 hectares) of paddyfields and damaged bananas planted in around 30 ropani (1.5 hectares) of land.

Meanwhile, the floods swept away a passenger jeep at Hulake along the Beni-Baglung road at midnight, Saturday. The vehicle was carrying a group of 12 local artists from Myagdi who were returning home after performing Lakhe dance in Pokhara. Security personnel and local residents rescued the passengers immediately. Floods and landslides also disrupted transportation on the Beni-Baglung road and Beni-Maldhunga roads, causing huge damage in several places.

According to Beni Municipality, floods damaged a community school building at Galeshwar in ward 9 and a house in ward 5, on the same night.

In Taplejung, a landslide destroyed the house belonging to Purna Bahadur Sherpa at Khejenim Mikkhop in ward 2 of Phaktalung Rural Municipality on Sunday. According to Rajan Limbu, chairman of the rural municipality, although the house was completely destroyed, there were no casualties.

Sherpa and his wife managed to escape soon after the landslide started. On June 14, a similar landslide in the same ward had killed four people.