We were not prepared for a disaster of this scale: Prime Minister Oli

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said the government never imagined or prepared for a natural disaster of this scale, which left at least 224 people dead and 158 injured.

The incessant rains that started on Thursday and continued until Saturday last week caused massive loss of life and property in several parts of the country.

At a press conference at his office on Tuesday, the prime minister said that the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology had forecast heavy rainfall and the government, as in the past, had prepared for it.

“Such heavy rainfall has rarely occurred in the past. We have therefore made some preparations,” Oli said, admitting lapses in search and rescue operations. “We were facing a huge disaster.”

While Nepal was struggling with loss of life and property due to floods and landslides, the prime minister was in the United States. Many people criticized the Prime Minister for not returning home when the country faced a crisis of this scale.

“I regularly participated in briefings from Kathmandu,” Oli said, responding to criticism.

“I was fully aware of the situation, but I never imagined the scale of the disaster. As soon as the disaster hit the country, the government immediately launched search and rescue operations.

“It doesn’t mean we didn’t do anything. We did our best, but we also had some weaknesses.

“Because the scale of the destruction was enormous, we had many priorities. There may have been some delays in some areas. However, no one was consciously negligent.”

Oli added that security forces saved over 4,000 people and they deserve thanks for that. “If they had not been rescued in time, the death toll could have been higher,” he added.

At the press conference, the Prime Minister also shared data about the disaster and the damage caused.

According to the Prime Minister, as of Tuesday, 224 people had been killed, 24 were missing and 158 were injured. A total of 4,331 high-risk people were rescued and transported to safety. Of the 77 districts, 21 were severely affected, including Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Kavrepalanchok, Sindhupalchok, Sindhuli and Makawanpur.

The disasters are estimated to have caused losses in excess of R17 billion, including damage to drinking water supplies, roads, hydro and power plants, and irrigation facilities. The disasters damaged highways in 37 places; Obstacles at nine places have been removed, the Prime Minister said, according to a statement read by Chief Secretary Ek Narayan Aryal.

As a result of the disasters, as many as 16 hydroelectric power plants generating a capacity of 667.9 MW and 18 hydroelectric power plants with a total installed capacity of 1,139 MW were damaged. Five main transmission lines were also damaged.

Meanwhile, as many as 312 Nepal Telecom websites were damaged, according to data provided by Aryal. The agriculture and livestock sector suffered damages worth over 6 billion rupees. As many as 30,000 security personnel have been deployed for search and rescue operations, Aryal said, and the government has started distributing aid quotas to people affected by floods and landslides.

Search and rescue of those affected by the disaster will be completed within two days, Aryal said, and the government will rehabilitate them.

The government will provide cash assistance to those who have lost their homes to build temporary residences. The government will provide free treatment to the injured and conduct health camps in the affected areas, in coordination with local governments, to prevent possible disease outbreaks, Aryal said.

The government will restore drinking water projects as soon as possible, maintain roads and highways and, if necessary, install Bailey bridges, Aryal added. The Chief Secretary said the priority was to rebuild and maintain roads and highways to resume transportation. Priority will be given to restoring telephone infrastructure and transmission lines.

Meanwhile, Oli said the government is serious about solving the problem in cooperative societies. The cooperative’s funds have been embezzled in such a way that depositors’ savings are difficult to return, he said. “We also had to look at the law as to how much money could be returned, how much could be recovered and what procedure could be followed.”

Oli promised to take action within the bounds of the law to solve the problem facing the cooperative sector.

Oli also appealed to the people to help in search, rescue and relief operations, recognizing the people’s suffering as a shared national pain.