Help initiative for Sindhupalchowk Landslide Victims

Heavy rain caused massive landslides from the hillside in Jure, Mankhaa Village Development Committee of Sindhupalchowk district. The incident happened at
02:00 am on 02 August 2014 when most of the people were sleeping in their homes. The landslide created more than 100 meter high artificial dam across Saptakoshi River, one of the main tributaries of Koshi River. The flow of water is completely blocked due to the dam that has created artificial ponds, accumulating a large volume of water upstream. The blockages of river course formed an artificial lake; spread over 2.5 KM by length and 130 Mtr by depth. The landslide area is located 70 KM North East of Kathmandu Valley. Araniko Highway, a major highway that links Kathmandu to Chinese boarder passes through the incident area. The areas along the highway are very important from the point of view of tourism and trade between China and Nepal so most of the area were inhabited with markets, hotels and private homes in several places. Two hydropower plants are fully operating nearby the area.

The landslide occurred in the night time has caused huge loss of life and properties in Jure area where many houses and markets were located. Sindhupalchowk district administration today declared all missing persons in Ban Sanghu landslide dead, as rescuers gave up any hope of finding more bodies from the debris. Rescuers were able to find only 33 bodies in five days while more than 123 are still trapped under the rubble.

The landslide has affected large areas and completely swept away many infrastructures, including more than 200 houses, markets, part of the highway, livestock and transport vehicles that were parked on the highway. Report from the affected areas shows 21 people, including one Belgian citizen, are injured in that incident. The road access to the affected area is completely disrupted and security forces has blocked the roads around 20 KM ahead of the incident area. Likewise, the communication network is very limited and two hydropower plants shut down and the supply of electricity in the area and in Kathmandu valley is reduced. The access for assessment team in the affected area is very difficult and restricted due to the high risk of floods so NRCS assessment is still exploring possibilities to gain access.

People evacuated from the areas are either taking shelter with their neighbors or in schools. Many families spent the whole night on 02 August in open spaces and the rain has yielded more complications.

Since a large volume of water is still collected just above the artificial dam, the risk of flash floods is high and in case of collapse of the dam may cause huge devastation in 11 (Sindhupalchowk, Kavre, Khotang, Dolakha, Bhojpur, Udayapur, Sindhuli, Ramechhap, Dhankuta, Saptari and Sunsari) districts along riverside downstream of the landslide area which may cause huge destruction in infrastructures, lives and properties. In worse case, even Bihar state of India may get affected. The government has declared a high risk area along the riverside downstream of the Koshi river.