Lessons From Disaster

The country is still struggling to pick up the pieces after the monsoon rain-induced floods and landslides left a trail of death and destruction last week. In the hindsight, it has become clear that the country was not prepared to tackle the natural calamity of this magnitude. The disasters like floods, landslides, tornadoes and earthquakes are unpredictable. They usually catch the people on the hop. However, with the development of sophisticated technology, much has been attained in forecasting the weather events such as rains and hurricanes. In Nepal too, experts at the Hydrological and Meteorological Department have been successful in making accurate or near- accurate prediction about the rains. They had also made warning about the recent downpours that lashed central and eastern Nepal. Although there could be a precise prediction of rains, it is difficult to foretell about the floods and landslides that happen as a result of cloudbursts and downpours.