Frontline victims of recurrent disasters in Nepal

In Ratnawati village, Phikkal Rural Municipality-6, Sindhuli district, Dil Bahadur Majhi stood by the Sunkoshi River on September 27, 2024, watching the water rise faster than he had ever seen. The indigenous Majhi fisherman, whose family had lived along these banks for generations, felt the ground tremble as the monsoon rains pounded the hills above. By the next evening, the flood had swept away his home, four ropanis of paddy fields, and nearly everything they owned. Dil Bahadur, his wife Suntali, and their three children fled to a relative's cramped house, then scraped together a flimsy hut of wood and plastic just 20 meters from the river's edge. "Our forefathers stayed here without such big floods," Dil Bahadur told reporters later, his voice steady but eyes hollow. "Now we have nothing, and no one has come to help us rebuild."