Gorkha’s displaced residents return to village following landslide mitigation

GORKHA: Kharungaon, situated in Barpak Sulikot Rural Municipality-4 of Gorkha, was severely impacted by the powerful earthquake in 2015, which caused extensive damage to all the homes in the area.

While the villagers initially returned to their residences, most of which had been repaired or rebuilt, they encountered new difficulties.

A few months later, in July, heavy rainfall increased the risk of landslides in the village.

When the landslides occurred, some families were forced to evacuate, relocating to areas such as Chitwan, Gorkhabazar, and Chwetar.

Following the threat posed by the landslides, the situation has improved with support from the Land and Watershed Management Office and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Local resident Suk Bahadur Tamang noted that after the landslide was controlled, those who had left began to return. “All the villages were scattered by the landslide,” he said.

Lilajung Gurung, a Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist with the FAO, reported that the landslide control efforts included planting trees, along with the construction of Gavin walls in at-risk areas.

Gurung stated that six families displaced by the landslides have now returned to their homes.

Sher Bahadur Gurung, another local who was displaced, shared his experience: “When the landslide started taking away the village, my family had to leave. There was no safe place nearby due to the constant threat of landslides, so we moved to Chitwan for almost four years. We returned only after the landslides stopped.”

He emphasized that with the landslides under control, it is now safe to live in the village.

In areas where trees have been planted to prevent landslides, villagers have completely stopped grazing livestock.

Additionally, they have formed a group focused on income generation through the sustainable use of Amriso (Kans grass), which is also being utilized for landslide control.

The community feels increasingly secure, especially since a full warning system has been established in the village to provide early alerts about potential landslides.