The disasters Nepal endured this year have caused enormous losses. According to the government’s preliminary estimates, Nepal has suffered losses of approximately Rs400 billion from the August 26 Bhotekoshi flash flood alone. It swept away 41 motorable bridges and damaged four others and washed away the road connecting to the northern border. Several sections of Prithivi Highway have also suffered damage. Similarly, late-September rains have caused an estimated Rs65.1 million in damage to the Kaligandaki Corridor. The recent Budhigandaki flood has also shocked the country. The government now faces the daunting task of rebuilding basic infrastructure, including roads, schools, bridges, healthcare facilities and homes that were swept away.
As a result, survivors of the devastating floods have faced immense hardship accessing healthcare services, essential goods and travel to other places. In response, the government has built temporary access routes, installed Bailey bridges and carried out emergency repairs in some flood-hit areas. The government repaired the flood-damaged section in Krishnabhir along the Prithvi Highway in 18 days, and the road connecting Upper Manang with the district headquarters of Chame reopened within three weeks with the help of a timber bridge. Travel-related activities before Dashain and Tihar have become easier; goods are finally finding markets.
Yet, many people in flood-ravaged areas remain cut off from hospitals, markets and neighbouring settlements. In some places, people have no other option but to rely on dangerous journeys on tuins (hand-powered aerial cable crossings). Individuals are also making efforts to meet people’s needs. For instance, in Nuwakot, a contractor mobilised workers, resources and funding to build a 268-metre suspension bridge in a month for an estimated Rs17.5 million, well below the government’s estimate. This effort deserves accolades, and it also offers a powerful lesson to the government in what determination can achieve when communities are desperate for help.
Nepal is still in the immediate post-disaster recovery phase, so it is unreasonable to expect the government to build essential infrastructure overnight. Haphazard, unplanned construction of roads, bridges and other infrastructure will not withstand disasters of this scale. Infrastructure must be safe and fit for use. The Bhotekoshi, Budhigandaki and Kaligandaki floods have made it clear that Nepal now needs strong, resilient infrastructure that doesn’t easily get washed away by such disasters—and building it will take a long time. Still, a temporary road that reaches a community but becomes impassable during heavy rainfall doesn’t provide dependable connectivity.
While immediate measures are essential, long-term reconstruction requires sufficient budget allocation. Therefore, lawmakers must prioritise flood-hit areas and damaged roads and infrastructure in annual budgets and long-term development strategies. More importantly, federal, provincial and local governments must also coordinate their reconstruction efforts instead of leaving affected communities to navigate overlapping jurisdictions. Children from Rasuwa have started going to schools in Godawari, Lalitpur. This provision is welcome, but reconstruction of schools in safer parts of their home districts shouldn’t be delayed.
From now on, disaster resilience must guide every stage of reconstruction in the country. Roads need adequate study, slope stabilisation and protection against river erosion. Bridges must be designed keeping in mind the river’s hydrology, flood levels, debris loads and changing climatic conditions. Schools, hospitals and settlements must be built in safer places. Administrative procedures and delayed funding shouldn’t compound the suffering caused by disasters, as we have seen under past governments. Without long-term plans, people will be forced to remain trapped in the cycle of temporary infrastructure that can be washed away at any moment.