Nuwakot, Aug 30: The District Disaster Management Committee (DDMC) here has begun distributing relief materials to the Bhotekoshi flash flood survivors from holding centres. DDMC collected the relief materials in an integrated manner and began handing over to the disaster affected ones based on urgency.
In order to provide shelters and foods, the district authority has established 13 holding centres, among which, nine are in Bidur Municipality, two in Kispang Rural Municipality and one each in Suryagadhi Rural Municipality and Belkotgadhi Municipality.
“We are receiving essentials which the donors and interested parties want to provide to the flood survivors. DDMC has adopted a one-door system for it,” said chief district officer and DDMC coordinator Shambhu Prasad Regmi, adding that the support is supplied to the shelters based on need.
The support materials collected from various sources are dispatched even by helicopters in case of inaccessible road transport, according to him.
Even the local level is extending support to manage holding centres, with the arrangement of food and shelter to the disaster survivors. “We have helped in providing health check-ups and family reunions at shelter,” said Mayor of Bidur Municipality, Rajan Shrestha. He also told RSS that they were working in close coordination with the provincial and federal governments in the collection of details on loss of life and property caused by the devastative Bhotekoshi flash flood.
Although it was said initially that the collection and distribution of relief items were to be managed through a one-stop way, some donors and generous individuals reached the reachable rescue centres with support. So, the relief materials have not reached to all holding centres proportionally. Chairman of Ward No-5 in Bidur Municipality, Lilanath Neupane, said the donors started approaching directly to the holding centres, thereby handing over relief materials. They requested to dispatch the materials to other needy places as well. “There is adequate collection here for survivors’ help for now. So, we told them to take the relief items to other needy places,” he added.
So far, most of the relief items received in the holding centres are foods such as rice, lentils, noodles and biscuits, while there are few clothes, according to DDMC. The most flood-hit settlements of Nuwakot are Betrawati, Trishuli, Dhunge, Simchaur, and Devighat in Bidur Municipality. Similarly, Shantibazar, Naya Pul, and Mailung areas of Kispang Rural Municipality received tragedy. Thulo Khola, Budhasihghat, Ratmate, Kolchaur, Keureni, and Kolputar are worst hit settlements of Belkotgadhi Municipality in the district.
A holding centre set up at Suryagadhi Rural Municipality Office has provided shelter to those who have approached from various places of Rasuwa and Nuwakot. They are desperately in need of safe atmosphere. However, the distribution of relief materials in the areas beyond district headquarters, Bidur, is difficult. Some organizations are even opted for mobilizing drones to ferry the relief supplies in remote holding centres.
The settlements on the Trishuli riverbank which were hit hard are Ward No 1, 3, 6, 7, 9 and 12 of Bidur Municipality. Trishuli Bazaar is located at Ward No 1, while various settlements including Khadgabhanjyang are at Ward No 3, Chainpur is close to Ward No. 6, Tupche is at Ward No 7, and Siltanki is at Ward No 9.
There are seven holding centres set up along the bank of Trishuli River. However, due to the collapse of bridges at Tadi and Kolpukhola in the flash floods caused difficulty to deliver the supplies. So, helicopters must to be used to transport the relief supplies to the holding centre run by Mahadev Secondary School at Belkotgadhi-7.
In this connection, the locals urged the federal government to prioritize the distribution of relief materials in the areas along the river. The school children’s reunion with the concerned families should be prioritized, they said during an all-side discussion held by District Coordination Committee on Saturday. Several students surviving the floods were cut off from family contact due to the collapse of bridges over the Trishuli River. In view of the physical and mental stress, the survivors are provided counseling and health checkup in the temporary facilities.
The district is collecting details to ascertain the loss of lives and property. A meeting was held with stakeholders in the district on Saturday for the management of unidentified bodies. In that meeting, chief district officer Regmi informed that the district would need to manage 300 dead bodies. According to chief of the District Police Office, Bipin Regmi, 821 applications were received in the district as of Saturday on the people gone out of contact due to floods.
