{"id":19223,"date":"2016-07-18T07:10:03","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T07:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/?p=19223"},"modified":"2016-07-18T07:10:03","modified_gmt":"2016-07-18T07:10:03","slug":"monsoon-2016-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/2016\/07\/18\/monsoon-2016-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Monsoon 2016: Nepal reels under the effects of multiple landslides"},"content":{"rendered":"
Monsoon 2016<\/h5>\n

In the aftermath of the May 2015 earthquake we have been worried<\/a> that the first really intensive period of rainfall would lead to significant landslide problems in Nepal<\/a>.\u00a0 Unfortunately, as Monsoon 2016 really gets into gear this scenario is playing out. Northern areas of Nepal are being affected by large amounts of rainfall.\u00a0 The landslides are dominating the news in Nepal – for example this is the front page of the Himalayan Times<\/a> this morning:-<\/p>\n

\"Monsoon

Monsoon 2016: The front page of the Himalayan Times this morning<\/p><\/div>\n

.<\/p>\n

This is reporting the ongoing problems in the catchment of the Bhote Kosi following the landslide dam break flood of last week<\/a>.\u00a0 Whilst the damage and disruption to this area is undoubtedly extreme, I am deeply concerned by this report of plans to bulldoze a new, 26 km long track to create an alternative alignment to Tatopani:-<\/p>\n

The Divisional Road Office (DRO) has started work to open a 26-kilometre alternative track to connect Barhabise with Tatopani in Sindhupalchok district after a flashflood last week destroyed much of the road.\u00a0 The under-construction Middle Bhotekoshi Hydropower Project is providing financial assistance to open the road from Chaku to Khohra. The DRO has started construction in the remaining section of the road up to Tatopani.\u00a0 The project has already opened the alternative way from Chaku. The project is using three excavators at the site. Chief of the 102 megawatt project Sunil Kumar Lama said landslides continue to occur in Khohra and other areas. Senior civil engineer Sanjay Sapkota said construction works will be completed in a week though the river is still eroding sections of the Araniko Highway.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These low tech roads are both environmentally catastrophic and exceptionally hazard prone.\u00a0 This is an area that basically consists of quasi-stable landslide deposits, and even the existing road is very landslide-prone.\u00a0 In the medium term the opening of a new road is likely to make the problem far worse.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, other catchments are also showing distinct problems.\u00a0 The Mahakali River is reported to be very high and is actively eroding its bank<\/a>s:-<\/p>\n

\n
A flood in Mahakali River has started eroding the embankment at Bhimdatta Municipality-11 in Kanchan-pur district.\u00a0 On Sunday, the river eroded the levee that was constructed near Bhujela last year. Technicians from the People\u2019s Embankment Programme (PEP), Kanchanpur said the flood caused by incessant rains in the hilly areas of the far-western region started eroding the banks on Saturday night. PEP chief Bhilananda Yadav said the embankment would be destroyed if the dike is swept away. \u201cWe are going to protect the embankment with gabions,\u201d he said. Shankar Chhetri of Bhujela said they have been alerted against the river flooding their settlement.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Perhaps most worrying is the situation on the Tamor River, which has been partially blocked by a landslide. \u00a0 News yesterday<\/a> was that the water level is rising:<\/p>\n

Water level in landslide-dammed lake in Tamor River in Sawadin, Taplejung, has increased, leaving the downstream settlement at risk. A fresh rockfall blocked water flow in the river. Pawan Shrestha, a resident of nearby Mitlung Bazaar, told the Post over the phone that the water level in the debris-dammed lake gradually increased on Saturday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Kathmandu Post published an image last week<\/a> of the landslide and lake from the upstream side:<\/p>\n

\"monsoon

Monsoon 2016: Kathmandu Post image<\/a> of the landslide dam on the Tamor River<\/p><\/div>\n

.<\/p>\n

Whilst not huge, this has the potential to cause significant damage immediately downstream.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Monsoon 2016 kicks fully into gear, Nepal is being hit by multiple landslides in the upland areas, resulting in extensive damage and loss of life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":19225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[469,15,979,66,72],"class_list":["post-19223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-landslide-report","tag-featured","tag-landslide-dam","tag-monsoon","tag-nepal","tag-south-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}