Landslide buries 33 houses in Khotang, severing connection with Terai

KATHMANDU: Continuous rainfall has triggered floods and landslides, burying 33 houses and partially damaging 38 others in the district. Two people have sustained injuries.

Although there have been no human casualties, the disaster has caused damage worth millions of rupees, according to Shivkumar Karki, Coordinator of the District Disaster Management Committee and Chief District Officer.

“The floods and landslides have caused significant damage in the district. We have not yet received the full details of the damage,” he said. “In the ten local units of Khotang, two people have been injured, and 18 livestock have perished due to floods and landslides. We have deployed teams from all three security agencies to assist in the rescue operations.”

A meeting of the District Disaster Management Committee was held on Sunday evening to arrange immediate relief and resettlement for the victims of the floods and landslides.

The meeting, chaired by Member of Parliament Ram Kumar Rai ‘Pasang’, decided to gather damage reports swiftly and provide relief as soon as possible.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Purushottam Khadka, Chief of the District Police Office, stated that 135 displaced residents have been relocated to nearby schools and the homes of relatives. “We have received reports that, in addition to washing away a concrete bridge, the floods have damaged five suspension bridges. Police officers involved in the rescue are still in the field,” he said. “The total damage reported so far amounts to over 7.99 million rupees for residential homes alone, excluding development projects. Further details are awaited.”

The floods have also washed away the concrete bridge over the Sunkoshi River at Foksingtar, located on the border between Khotang and Udayapur districts. In addition, suspension bridges at Bangsilaghat, Khotang’s Aiselukharka Rural Municipality-4, Jaleshwari’s Kamphughat, Dhaplangghat on the Khotang-Udayapur border, Ramite in Jantedhunga Rural Municipality-1 connecting Udayapur, and Bhandareghat in Diprung Chuichumma Rural Municipality-4 have also been swept away.

The concrete bridge at Foksingtar, completed and operational in 2079, was among those destroyed by the flood on Saturday afternoon.

The destruction of the Foksingtar bridge has severed direct transportation links with the eastern Terai. The ‘arch-design’ bridge, which connected Lichkiramche of Khotehang Rural Municipality-9 in Khotang to Amptar of Rautamai Rural Municipality-5 in Udayapur, has also been washed away, cutting off direct transportation routes.