Early Warning System Comes to the Rescue of Communities in Kailali

People living in settlements near the rivers and rivulets in Kailali district have been putting up with flooding every year. However, with better disaster preparedness measures on the basis of information from the Early Warning System (EWS) in recent years, they have been able to minimise the damage to lives and properties.

Though the locals of Bhajani had to endure flooding four times this year, the damage was comparatively less as compared to previous years.

The floodwaters inundated their houses, but most of the families managed to relocate their foods and livestock to a safer place prior to the disaster, Jaya Prasad Dhungana of Sonahaphant in Bhajani Municipality-8, told RSS, the state-owned news agency.

More than 4,000 families were affected by flooding on September 22.

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“Almost everyone here has some knowledge of the EWS,” Dhungana said. “In case of large-scale flooding, their homes and fields can be damaged, but the people evacuate to a safer place.”

Nirmala Karki, a farmer in Bhajani, said that the EWS has helped them better prepare for rain-induced disasters. "We check messages related to floods on our mobile phones, the local municipality's website and listen to the radio,” said Karki. “The community relies on this information. We have not yet forgotten that we lost three people to the floods some years ago when we were not accustomed to the EWS.”

Ram Krishna Chaudhary, the EWS coordinator at Bangaun in Tikapur Municipality-8, told RSS that EWS has become more significant in recent years to save lives and properties from floods in the downstream areas.

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Mangali Tharu, also from Tikapur-8, said the three-day and weekly weather forecasts have helped the local communities a great deal to remain safe from disasters.

Nirmala Chaudhary, Chief of the Tikapur Municipality Disaster Management Section, said that Wards 6 and 7 of Tikapur Municipality were inundated by flood on July 7.

“The settlements were waterlogged and people could not go back to their homes for three days,” said Chaudhary. “However, the municipality, police and locals together relocated the food, household goods, and the cattle to a safer place before the disaster, which minimised the loss."

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But, Yagya Prasad Neupane, Ward Chair of Tikapur-7, mentioned that people have complained of not receiving much information from water level measurement stations set up at various places including Mohana and Patharaiya along the Karnali River due to the lack of manpower.

"Various organisations used to bear the payment of the people employed to monitor the stations under the jurisdiction of the community and relay information,” said Neupane. “There is no such support these days, which means there are no people to relay the information."

Chief of the Bhajani Municipality Disaster Management Section, Bishnu Neupane, too stressed the need for the local governments to invest more in disaster preparedness and enhancing the EWS, adding, “The local government alone is unable to provide relief to thousands of families given that the municipality has experienced heavy flooding four times in a year.”

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Sanjaya Shah, Chief of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, the Mahakali Basin Field Office at Attariya, said that work was underway for automation of the water level measurement and rainfall measurement stations.

Shah claimed that 31 hydrological measurement stations in the Sudurpaschim province have now been automated.

Though 11 rainfall measurement stations and 10 water level measurement devices have been set up along the Mohana and Khutiya rivers, they are not in operation currently.

Once they come into operation, there will be 42 water level measurement and 89 rainfall measurement stations in Sudurpaschim Province. More than 40 of those rainfall measurement stations have been automated.

RSS

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