Disaster hits far-west before start of monsoon

Dadeldhura – People in the far-west region of the country have already begun facing a precursor to natural disaster with the occurrence of hailstone and rain accompanied by storm almost daily since the last one week. 

The daily life of the people has become difficult due to this weather phenomenon. Mostly the people of the hilly and mountainous areas in this region have been affected by flood and mudslide triggered by the rains. 
Farmers are worried that they might face famine as the daily occurrence of hailstone and the storm has damaged their crops. 

Chandra Aier of local Ajayameru-2 expressed this concern, saying, "The hailstone and gale has destroyed our crops, increasing the chances of famine in the coming year." 

The strong wind has also caused big losses. The gale has blown away roof of schools at Bhageshwar rural municipality. The school buildings have also suffered damage due to this, according to Kaushila Kumari Bhatta, the vice-chairperson of Ajayameru rural municipality. 

The storm has caused a big damage also in Ganyapdhura rural municipality. The strong wind has blown away the roofs of the police station and some shops at Badal, the headquarters of the Rural Municipality, and also the roofs of schools in the rural municipality, Ganyapdhura rural municipality chair, Nawal Malla, said. 
Community forests damaged 

Pre-monsoon incidents of hailstorms have caused damages to most of the communist forests here. Dozens of sallo (cheer pine) trees have been brought down. 

As stated by chair of Rajpura Community Forest based in Amargadhi Municipality-3, Balaram Khatri, over three dozens of cheer pine trees were uprooted during the violent storm, also causing minor damages to a nearby house. 

Airdhunga Community Forest was also hit by the storm, as it uprooted many cheer pine trees, as stated by District Forest Office's forest officer Keshab Pudasaini. 

The Office is collecting the details of looses for the management of fallen trees. Rainwater can rot cheer pine trees in a short span of time which will cause loss of million rupees and the timely management was a must to keep fallen trees safe. 

People of this district in Province 7 are facing consequences of natural disasters like flooding and landslides before monsoon. 

The government and non-government sectors are investing a huge budget annually in the area of disaster mitigation. These days Dadheldhura folks can't sleep well thinking about the situation during monsoon and when it reaches to its peak. 

District Administration Office assistant chief district officer Karunakar Awasthi said the various non-government sectors have launched public awareness activities on the disaster preparedness. 
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