Flood victims of Chaukidanda, Bahrabise, Phulpingkatti and Tatopani in Sindhupalchok are set for a drab Dashain this year.

Bhotekoshi River floods in July had washed away their houses and property.

As many as 82 houses were swept away in Bahrabise and Liping Bazaar on July 5. The Bahrabise-Tatopani road section was also damaged.

“What’s Dashain without a roof over our heads,” said Kule Thami, one of the flood victims, who is living with his family in a makeshift hut in Bahrabise after losing his house to the natural disaster.

Others like Thami in these areas in double jeopardy. They had lost properties during the earthquakes last year. Just when they were trying to come to terms with the devastation caused by the quakes, flooding took away their houses and whatever they had managed to bring together in the last one year since the tremors.

Rambabu Karki of Phulpingkatti, also a flood victim who was in Bahrabise to receive the first tranche of housing reconstruction aid, said the earthquake survivors are left homeless after the Bhotekoshi floods swept their temporary huts away.

“I don’t have money to celebrate the festival,” said flood victim Santamaya BK of Tatopani who has been living in a settlement for the flood displaced in Chaukidanda. “Nor do we have a house now.”

BK’s family had built a new house after the earthquake last year destroyed the old one. “But the Bhotekoshi floods took that away,” said BK.

Flood victims said that they were facing a hard time living under temporary shelters, as the government failed to bring resettlement and relief programme for them.

“Dashain this year is a sad affair for us,” said Sanu Khadka. “Forget celebrations, we are living in fears as where we are currently living is at risk of floods and landslides.”