Date | June–September 2020 |
---|---|
Location | Western Nepal, in particular Myagdi District |
Cause | Climate change and poor drainage infrastructure |
Deaths | 401 |
The 2020 Nepal floods were induced by heavy rains causing landslides and flash floods in western Nepal, and in particular Myagdi District. [1] [2] As of 24 June, Nepal's Ministry of Home Affairs reported 132 dead, 53 missing, and 128 injured in 445 flooding and landslide incidents. [3] Aon reported 401 fatalities from the floods. [4]
Following the floods, Nepal's water minister Barshaman Pun instructed his officials to raise flood mitigation in the Nepal-India Joint Committee on Inundation and Flood Management (JCIFM) forum. [5]
The Kathmandu Post labelled the rainy season as one of the deadliest in recent memory, writing that the large losses are a result of failure by local and national government. [6]
Nepal measures about 880 kilometers (547 mi) along its Himalayan axis by 150 to 250 kilometers across. It has an area of 147,516 km2 (56,956 sq mi).
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, and India to the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the largest city. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language.
Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, is a Nepalese politician, currently serving as the Leader of the Opposition, since July 2024. He has served as the Prime Minister of Nepal on three separate occasions, from 2008 to 2009 as the first prime minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, from 2016 to 2017, and again from 2022 to 2024.
India–Nepal relations are the bilateral relations between the Republic of India and the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. Both countries initiated their relationship with the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship and accompanying secret letters that defined security relations between the two countries, and an agreement governing both bilateral trade and trade transiting Indian territory.
The bilateral relations between Nepal and China are defined by the Sino-Nepalese Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed on April 28, 1960, by the two countries. Though initially unenthusiastic, Nepal has been of late making efforts to increase trade and connectivity with China. Relations between Nepal and China got a boost when both countries solved all border disputes along the China–Nepal border by signing the Sino-Nepal boundary agreement on March 21, 1960, making Nepal the first neighboring country of China to conclude a border treaty with China. The governments of both Nepal and China ratified the border treaty on October 5, 1961. From 1975 onward, Nepal has maintained a policy of balancing the competing influence of China and Nepal's southern neighbor India, the only two neighbors of the Himalayan country after the accession of the Kingdom of Sikkim into India in 1975.
The April 2015 Nepal earthquake killed 8,962 people and injured 21,952 across the Nepal, India, China and Bangladesh. It occurred at on Saturday 25 April 2015, with a magnitude of 7.8Mw or 8.1Ms and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of X (Extreme). Its epicenter was east of Gorkha District at Barpak, Gorkha, roughly 85 km (53 mi) northwest of central Kathmandu, and its hypocenter was at a depth of approximately 8.2 km (5.1 mi). It was the worst natural disaster to strike Nepal since the 1934 Nepal–India earthquake. The ground motion recorded in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, was of low frequency, which, along with its occurrence at an hour when many people in rural areas were working outdoors, decreased the loss of human lives.
The 2015 India Blockade of Nepal, which began on 23 September 2015 and lasted about six months, was an economic and humanitarian crisis that severely affected Nepal and its economy.
On 12 June 2017, heavy monsoon rain triggered a series of landslides and floods in Rangamati, Chittagong and Bandarban - three hilly districts of Bangladesh - and killed at least 152 people. The weather also caused power cuts and telecommunications disruptions, making it difficult for rescuers to reach affected communities. Reaz Ahmed, head of Bangladesh's Disaster Management Department, said the landslides were the worst in the country's history.
In mid-March 2019, monsoonal downpours caused widespread flooding and landslides across South Asia.
Events in the year 2020 in Nepal.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal was part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The first case in Nepal was confirmed on 23 January 2020 when a 31-year-old student, who had returned to Kathmandu from Wuhan on 9 January, tested positive. It was also the first recorded case of COVID-19 in South Asia. Nepal's first case of local transmission was confirmed on 4 April in Kailali District. The first death occurred on 14 May. A country-wide lockdown came into effect on 24 March 2020, and ended on 21 July 2020. As of 26 July 2022, the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has confirmed a total of 984,475 cases, 968,802 recoveries, and 11,959 deaths in the country. In the meantime, 5,804,358 real-time RT-PCR (RT-qPCR) tests have been performed in 40 laboratories across the country. The viral disease has been detected in all provinces and districts of the country, with Bagmati Province and Kathmandu being the worst hit province and district respectively. As for Nepalese abroad, as of 26 July 2020, the Non-Resident Nepali Association has reported a total of 12,667 confirmed cases, 16,190 recoveries, and 161 deaths across 35 countries.
2021 Nepal floods were a series of flash floods caused by heavy rains causing landslides and flash floods.
Events in the year 2022 in Nepal.
From January to October 2022, excessive rainfall and widespread monsoon flooding occurred in the South Asian countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It has become the region's deadliest floods since 2020, with over 4,700 people dead.
In 2020, floods severely affected South Asia due to heavy monsoon rains. The floods caused $105 billion USD of damage, making them the costliest floods in modern history, and the ninth costliest disaster of all time. In addition there were 6,511 fatalities, the most reported in a flood since Cyclone Sidr in 2007. Floods continued in 2021 and 2022.
After over 6,500 people died in flooding in 2020, monsoon floods hit South Asia again in 2021.
Flooding affected parts of South Asia since March of 2023, killing many and destroying buildings.
The Madan Ashrit Highway disaster was a road accident on July 12, 2024 that was caused by a large landslide that pushed two buses carrying a total of 65 passengers on the Madan Ashrit Highway into the Trishuli River in Nepal. The disaster left at least 11 people dead, injured three people and left 51 people missing.
The 2024 Nepal floods were the by-product of torrential rainfall during the annual monsoon season in early July, mid August, and late September, which caused significant flooding across the nation as well as several mudslides. The September floods, which caused the most damage and deaths, were caused by the heaviest rainfall recorded in the region since at least 1970, itself the result of a low-pressure system. The impact of the floods was further increased by poor infrastructure and settlement planning, including unplanned construction on floodplains.