Kathmandu, August 31
Janamat Party General Secretary Chandan Singh, who recently returned to Kathmandu after visiting areas affected by the Rasuwa floods, has said that major challenges remain in search and rescue operations, relief distribution and the management of displaced people.
Singh, who travelled to the affected areas with relief supplies, said there were also difficulties in distributing assistance.
“There are four or five holding centres in Battar Bazaar where affected people are being accommodated. However, there has been no long-term arrangement for residents who have lost their homes,” he said. “People who have lost both their homes and businesses also need to be accommodated in holding centres and provided with food and shelter.”
Although helicopters are being continuously deployed for rescue operations in the Battar area, Singh said challenges remain in managing survivors after their rescue, coordinating with their relatives and identifying bodies.
According to Singh, families displaced by the floods are facing shortages of clothing and other essential supplies in addition to food.
“There are small children whose homes were completely washed away. Apart from the clothes they were wearing, they have nothing left,” Singh said. “They have been wearing the same clothes for five days. Therefore, not only food but also clothes, bedding and blankets need to be delivered immediately.”
Singh said that although there had been plans to form an all-party mechanism to involve all political parties in search, rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts following the floods, it had not been effectively implemented.
“There is no coordination between the political mechanism on the ground and the government,” he said, adding that problems had arisen because the government was trying to handle everything on its own.
