More than 25,000 people living in the Tatopani area of Bhotekoshi Rural Municipality have been hit after the Larcha bridge, the only bridge linking them with the Capital, was destroyed by a massive landslide on Sunday night.

The vehicular movement along the five kilometres stretch of the Kodari Highway has come to a halt after the bridge collapsed in the disaster. 

The people of Marming, Phulpingkatti and Listikot are compelled to walk for at least three hours via Dugunabhir through landslide-prone terrain, to meet the other side of the highway.

Phulaki Sherpa, of Larcha, on Wednesday said the area was still witnessing continuous landslides since Sunday night. “Many of us have not slept well for days now because of landslide threat. We do not know what will happen if there is a heavy rainfall,” she said.  

 Elderly citizens and sick people have been hit hard by the bridge collapse. In case of emergency, they have no way to reach the nearest hospital.  

Chief District Officer Raj Kumar Paudel said they were planning to construct a wooden bridge to connect Phulpingkatti and Tatopani as a temporary solution. 

“We are also going to request Chinese side to build a bailey bridge to connect the highway,” said Paudel. 

Apart from the threat posed by landslides, there is also the fear of flood in the Bhotekoshi river. When the landslide destroyed the bridge, the debris landed into the river, blocking nearly half of its width. “The river has been narrowed at the site of landslide and there is a high pressure build-up,” said Deputy Superintendent of the Armed Police Force Bimal Dangi. 

A dozen of villages at risk of flood in Rajapur

A dozen villages in Rajapur Municipality of Bardiya are at high risk of flood as the embankment near Sattighat Bridge has started to sink as the Karnali river is changing its course.  Shiva Chaudhary, chief of Rajapur Municipality, said around 100-metre section of the embankment has sunk down, threatening to flood Sangharsanagar, Ghumna, Shankarnagar and other villages. 

Authorities have started repairing the embankment, but the locals have claimed that substandard materials were being used to fix the structure.