Miscellaneous
‘Wrong policies’ responsible for rise in disasters
Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa on Saturday said humans were responsible for the increasing incidents of natural disasters.Rastriya Samachar Samiti
Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa on Saturday said humans were responsible for the increasing incidents of natural disasters.
Speaking at an event organised by the Home Ministry and the Nepal Geological Society to mark the International Day for Disaster Reduction, the minister urged citizens to be well aware to mitigate human-induced disasters.
“Disasters are increasing due to weaknesses, wrong intentions and polices of humans,” he said at the event.
Reckless and unsystematic development, negative impact of the absence of proper transport, housing, and energy-related polices, have inflicted soil erosion and deforestation. It is high time to stop such destruction. The state, political parties, civil societies and citizens should take the initiative to stop this destruction of the environment, he said.
Global warming due to excessive carbon emissions by the developed and industrial nations has increased the risk of climate change. This calls for policy level reforms in such countries to resolve this situation.
The minister insisted on the participation of private sector to support government efforts on disaster management and reduction of its risk. The government’s sole efforts with limited resources are not enough to solve the problem, he said.
“The government needs to invest more in the area of disaster management. Its needs equal support and co-operation of the private sector. Combined efforts are necessary to reduce economic and human losses.”
The government plans to set up Disaster Management Authority soon, the minister said.
Nepal Geological Society Chairman Kabiraj Poudel said the nation was suffering great human and property losses due to disasters every year. Greater coordination among stakeholders would help to implement measures aimed to manage and minimise the risk of disasters.
Ministry data shows, since 2071 BS 8,962 people perished in earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25, 2015 while 22,302 were injured.
Similarly, landslides claimed 2,720 lives and injured 380 injured. The state incurred property losses over worth Rs 900 million because of such disasters.
In this period, floods claimed 413 lives, the number of missing people stood at 217, and 59,856 families displaced. Disasters inflicted around Rs 15 billion economic losses.