National
NRA mobilises teams to find out vulnerable settlements
Almost eighteen months after the Gorkha Earthquake, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has mobilised teams to carry out geological surveys and identify vulnerable settlements for relocation in nine earthquake affected districts.Almost eighteen months after the Gorkha Earthquake, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has mobilised teams to carry out geological surveys and identify vulnerable settlements for relocation in nine earthquake affected districts.
In a notice issued on Monday to the authorities in Dolakha, Ramechhap, Sindhu-palchok, Solukhumbu, Rasuwa, Dhading, Gorkha, Lamjung and Tanahun districts, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development has asked them to help and coordinate with the experts’ teams deployed to study vulnerable settlements in the respective districts.
“The teams have already been mobilised in the respective districts. They will come up with their reports after identifying the list of settlements for relocation,” said Chandra Shrestha, an executive member at NRA. He added that the settlements recommended for relocation will be incorporated to develop an integrated settlement concept put forward by the government in an attempt at ‘building back better’.
Soon after the earthquake, rural areas in the affected districts suffered landslides triggered by earthquake making many of them unfit for human settlements. A study conducted by the Department of Mines had identified 492 settlements in the 11-most affected districts as vulnerable to future disasters.
The NRA has already started work to identify the most vulnerable settlements in the quake-affected districts and recommend for relocation. Of the total 151 settlements studied so far, 56 have been recommended for resettlement.
Promoting and developing the concept of integrated settlement as a part of the building back better approach, the government has already agreed to develop needed basic infrastructure in the proposed integrated settlements. Under this plan, the government has already started preparing plans for 25 settlements within this fiscal year. In addition, works to prepare master plans for all seven World Heritage Sites inside Kathmandu Valley, along with historical palaces in Nuwakot and Gorkha districts, damaged by the earthquake last year.