by Prakash Dubey

The landslide occurred two days ago in Achham district. About 500 residents of Balyalta village are missing. Locals demand the government come up with plans to avoid unrestricted use of local natural resources.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) – Fears are mounting that a massive landslide on Saturday night in the western Nepalese district of Achham could have killed up to 500 people. News of the disaster caused by heavy rain was reported only yesterday because of the area's remoteness and lack of telephones. Achham District Chief Hom Nath Thapaliya said that a survivor from Balyalta village reported that 80 of the village's 94 homes were swept away in the landslide. "More than 500 residents have simply gone," the man said.

"It is possible that all of them died in the landslide," Thapaliya said. "But there is no confirmed report about the actual death toll. We have sent an army rescue team but given the conditions of the place we are not even in touch with it".

For Devendra Nepali, a senior leader in the country's ruling coalition government, "this landslide in Achham district is the worst of the past decade. It is an appalling tragedy. I think it is the result of our greed, of our ways of stripping this mountain region of its natural resources, not realising that in doing so we are bound to suffer consequences like the thing that just happened."

Locals lament that the outsiders who exploit their natural resources never suffer. One bitterly said: "They come, loot and vanish, leaving the local poor and innocent to experience the full wrath of nature."
Still, he is hopeful that things might change. "With a real democracy, our leaders will have to sit around the table to prevent such disasters from happening again."

• nepal
• achham
• landslide
• heavy
• rain
• natural
• disaster
• exploitation