Twenty-five families from a village at Chure Rural Municipality-5, Kailali have been living in a forest under makeshift tents for the past month after a landslide in the area threatened to wipe out the entire village.

“Living in the forest under makeshift tents is not easy. There is no drinking water or toilet here. We are defecating in the open,” said Tulasi Roka Magar, one of the displaced persons. “The adults are somehow adjusting but it’s the children who are facing the most difficulties. We sleep on the damp forest floor which has made several children ill.”

Many houses in Phalgaira, Gopale, Kaphalgaira, Maal and Ningaladi villages in Chure Rural Municipality are still at risk of landslides.

According to Nara Bahadur Tamang, the ward chairman of Chure-5, several houses and sheds in the village have developed cracks due to multiple landslides.

“In the first week of September, a landslide displaced 24 families and put several others at risk,” said Tamang. According to him, 324 households were affected by landslides in the past year in ward 5 alone.

Most of the displaced families in the ward are daily wage workers who do not have the financial means to move to safer locations.

Mina Lama, one of the landslide-displaced persons, says the September landslides destroyed not only houses but also fertile fields and crops in the village.

According to Dhana Bahadur Roka Magar, chairman of the rural municipality, the local unit does not have the resources to resettle the displaced people to safer locations and that his office has sought the help of higher authorities.

“We have been requesting the District Administration Office, Chief Minister’s Office in Sudurpaschim Province and other offices for help. But none of the authorities has shown any concern,” said Magar.