Opinion
Risky journeys
Ageing transport infrastructures are becoming increasingly vulnerable to floods and landslidesNavin Singh Khadka
As the death toll from floods and landslides continues to rise across South Asia, there is one more dangerous emerging trend we need to be worried about. If you have been following monsoon disasters on the social media, one particular kind of visual that has gone viral is that of collapsing bridges.
A few suspension bridges in western Nepal have been swept away by torrents of swelled rivers. In Pyuthan, even a concrete bridge was left damaged as it shook dangerously with furious currents arching and crashing on it. People recording the spine-chilling scene on their phone could be heard shouting in panic, “It’s gone!”
As of writing this, fortunately, no big concrete bridge on Nepal’s rivers has given way. But in neighbouring India’s Maharashtra state, the much-feared scenario has become a reality. A major highway bridge linking Mumbai and the resort city of Goa collapsed on Wednesday, causing two buses to plunge into the Savitri river. “The bridge was old,” officials with India’s National Disaster Response Force have been quoted as saying.
Around this time last year, two trains derailed on tracks near a river in Madhya Pradesh of India, killing nearly 30 people. Indian railway officials said the tracks caved after the soil under it shifted because of flash floods. They said it all happened within 10 minutes.
Disaster risk reduction experts say transport infrastructures are quite vulnerable to floods. And floods are the most common impacts of climate change our region experiences. Worse yet, an increasing number of bridges, embankments, rail tracks and roads in South Asia are ageing and are in dire need of repair.
How many bridges across Nepal have been assessed in terms of climatic disasters? Donors might be talking about climate proofing new infrastructures, but has anyone bothered to carry out an up-to-date assessment of the bridges? Regularly monitoring them in Nepal is crucial not just in terms of risks from floods but also from landslides. Think about the suspension bridges in the hilly and mountainous regions.
Nepali and Indian sides
If that does not capture your imagination, remember what happened in Nepal’s far west and across the border in India’s Uttarakhand state in 2013. It was a combination of floods and landslides that claimed more than 5,000 lives and wiped out highways, bridges and hydropower plants.
Nearly 750 landslides were recorded in the region while landslide dammed lakes were believed to have triggered the flash floods. But perhaps the most important finding was that human settlements were found to be where they should never have been and infrastructures like roads and bridges were not built or repaired keeping such disasters in mind.
The damages on the Nepali side were equally serious. The entire Darchula headquarters was hit and officials were clueless about what happened and what needed to be done. But that is where the similarity between the Nepali and the Indian side ends.
Barely six months since the disaster, India signed a 250 million dollars deal with the World Bank for reconstruction works in Uttarakhand. “About 3,600 kilometres of damaged village roads and about 675 kilometres of other district roads will be reconstructed,” the World Bank said in a statement after the agreement. “About 440 kilometres of bridle roads and about 140 bridle bridges that facilitate pedestrian connectivity for villages located in remote areas will also be reconstructed.”
While so much is happening across the border, Darchula locals are left on their own. With last year’s earthquake victims still waiting for government aid to rebuild their houses, the 2013 Mahakali floods disaster is a conveniently forgotten chapter.
In the meantime, the embankment of Koshi in eastern Nepal continues to cause concerns. The river has eroded its several points and the barrage, which has outlived its estimated lifespan, is becoming increasingly vulnerable.
Almost the same is the case with the Gandak embankments. Locals there have been complaining for quite sometime now that there have been no proper repair works and that has threatened their settlements.
Plans after plans
All these threats are not just about monsoon floods. Changing climate means extreme weather events are becoming more frequent. Freak storms will become more common, which means there will be more flash floods. We need to seriously look at our transport infrastructures in that context. “Given the state of such infrastructures in the region and given the increasing flood event, the threat is certainly on the rise,” says Ainun Nishat, a noted water resources engineer in Bangladesh. “You therefore need regional planning from mountains to the sea.”
But experts have been talking about regional planning in the region for ages now while governments are yet to walk the talk. Either they are too preoccupied with growth and development agenda or are besieged by conflicts and political instabilities.
It is not just about the developing world though. An unpublished review of the British government, for instance, says Britain’s roads, bridges, railways, hospitals, electricity, gas, water and internet remain at risk from floods, the BBC reported last month.
The only difference is that the developed world has already begun to allocate big budgets to minimise damages from climate change impacts like floods while most poor countries are still preparing plans after plans.
By the time they are implemented, it might be too late for the ageing surface transport infrastructures and the people who crucially depend on them.
Khadka is a BBC journalist based in London