Kathmandu, September 11
Around 150,000 people in Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading and other districts are estimated to have been directly affected by the devastating floods in the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers on August 26.
Health and Food Safety Ministry Secretary Dr Bikash Devkota presented the preliminary estimate at a meeting of the House of Representatives’ Education, Health and Information Technology Committee on Friday.
He said the estimate of the affected population was based on data collected through various mechanisms of the Bagmati provincial government and the ministry.
Secretary Devkota informed the committee that 25 people among those rescued from the affected areas and placed at holding centres had developed diarrhoea.
However, responding to questions raised by lawmakers, he clarified that no other serious outbreaks or infectious diseases had been reported so far apart from diarrhoea.
Master plan for climate-resilient infrastructure being prepared
Saying the health sector had learned important lessons from the latest flood disaster, Secretary Devkota stressed the need to make infrastructure built in the future climate-resilient.
He said building designs should take into account geographical conditions and temperature.
“It will now be important to consider the geographical conditions in which buildings or structures constructed by the Ministry of Health will be located. Structures built in areas with high temperatures should be different from those built in colder areas,” he said at the meeting. “All sectors now need to take this issue seriously.”
He also stressed that the availability of nearby health facilities should be considered when constructing new infrastructure so that people can easily access healthcare services during health emergencies.
Secretary Devkota said the ministry was preparing a master plan for rehabilitation and reconstruction that would incorporate climate-resilient infrastructure and pledged to submit the plan to the parliamentary committee once it was completed.
