Continuous landslides for the past 17 years have displaced around 56 families in three villages of Kedarsyu Rural Municipality in Bajhang. More than 100 families in the rural municipality are currently facing displacement due to the landslides.

The villages of Katkhet, Talbada and Maitoli in wards 2 and 3 of the rural municipality are currently at risk of landslides. Continuous landslides in the Narugad River area, which passes through Katkhet, Talbada and Maitoli villages, have over the years moved towards the villages, according to local residents.

“We experience landslides even during the dry season. Villagers have started leaving the settlements in fear of being swept away by landslides,” said Lalit Rawal, a local resident.

Cracks have formed on the landmass upon which these villages sit, he said.

“The surrounding hills are breaking off in chunks. People who have other places to go are leaving the villages but for most of us, there is nowhere else to go,” said Rawal.

Some of the displaced have moved to other areas within the rural municipality seeking shelter with relatives while others have moved to the forest areas in Jogbudha in Dadeldhura district.

The authorities have so far not offered any help to the displaced or the ones facing immediate displacement from their villages, says Rawal.

“The government has neither taken any measures to control the landslides nor have they provided relief and rehabilitation to the displaced,” he said.

“The landslides began some 18 years ago and they have not stopped since. Every year, five to ten families are displaced by these landslides,” said Dadibhan Rawal, another local resident. “Earlier, these landslides did not pose a big threat to the villages but over the years they have grown in intensity, cutting into large chunks of hills,”

All three villages are at high risk of being swept away or buried under landslides, he said.

More than 25.44 hectares of cultivable land has been lost to the landslides in the three villages in the last 18 years.

“The local residents have lost large swathes of fertile cultivable land to landslides. Every year, we lose our property. We are left with nothing,” said Dadibhan.

According to Ran Bahadur Bista of Maitoli village, the villagers have to live in constant fear of landslides. Since the landmass is fertile with a soft soil structure, light rainfall also poses a great risk of landslides.

“We don’t get any sleep even when it rains lightly. We have seen in the past how light rainfall also triggers landslides in this area,” said Bista. “We would move away from here if we had a choice but we have nowhere else to go.”

Landslides caused by continuous soil erosion have also affected the largest irrigation canal of Thulibanbhan Khola in the former Rayal VDC. The irrigation project supplies water to villages in wards 2 and 9 to irrigate the fields of around 400 families. The landslides have also damaged the Majuklo Irrigation Project, which irrigates about 80 hectares of land in the area.

“It is becoming increasingly necessary to control the landslides but the rural municipality does not have the necessary resources,” said Lokes Bhandari, spokesperson of the rural municipality. “Over 100 families are in immediate danger of displacement by landslides but we need the higher authorities to bring targeted programmes to help us mitigate the risk.”