Tornado damaged crops and cattle of Rs 507 million

The tornado that hit Bara and Parsa districts last fortnight caused Rs 507 million worth of crops and cattle loss, according to a preliminary report released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development today. 
The report reads that 10 municipalities in the two districts were hit by the 90-km-per-hour tornado on March 31. It claimed 28 lives and left hundreds homeless in the southern Tarai plains.
According to the report, crops on 1,096 hectares of land were completely damaged and 1,728 hectares were partially damaged in Bara, whereas crops on 339 hectares were completely destroyed and partially damaged on 1,388 hectares in Parsa district.
The report also revealed that fruit orchards suffered the highest losses. "Fruits on 289 hectares of land amounting to Rs 297 million were wiped out by the rainstorm," it reads, adding that Bara district alone suffered losses of Rs 236 million. "Wheat crops on 2,791 hectares of land were destroyed."
The ministry estimated that the value of the wheat crops lost amounted to Rs 109 million. Bara alone suffered wheat crop losses of Rs 65 million. The rainstorm has partially and completely destroyed maize crops on 513 hectares of Rs 48 million, whereas vegetable and lentil crops were also damaged. "Some 10,494 head of cattle worth Rs 7.58 million were killed by the tornado in both districts."
The report has also recommended the government to support farmers with shallow tube wells, seeds, fertilisers and micro nutrients. It urged the provincial government also to provide additional subsidies on crop insurance.
According to the report, some 1,058 houses in two districts were completely destroyed, and the farmers’ food stocks were buried when the houses collapsed. "Two metal bins with a capacity of two quintals each should be provided per family."
Meanwhile, the government relief announcement and distribution has become complicated due to three tiers of government; federal, state, and local. Unlike in the past, the federal government cannot announce and distribute relief packages to the farmers directly as the law does not allow the federal ministry to announce and distribute relief packages or allocate a budget to provincial and local governments for relief distribution purposes.
The federal ministry has prepared a plan, in case local and provincial governments are not able to issue relief packages. "If they request, the ministry will table the proposal at the Cabinet to approve the required funding to distribute relief packages in the affected areas."
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has, however, projected that wheat harvest could exceed 2 million tonnes and set a new record this fiscal year, largely due to good weather during the growing season in the winter. Wheat is the Nepal's third most common cereal crop after paddy and maize.
Meanwhile, authorities in Bara have estimated the damage caused by the devastating tornado on March 31 stood around Rs 234.48 million. According to the data compiled by the Disaster Management Committee, some 16,449 persons of 2,493 households were affected. "At least 530 persons, including 275 women, were injured in the storm," it said, adding that around two dozen injured are undergoing treatment at health facilities.

Government to rebuild homes for tornado-hit victims before monsoon

The federal government is going to reconstruct the houses of the tornado-hit Bara and Parsa populace before the monsoon.
After 5 days of the devastating tornado that struck Bara and Parsa districts in the southern plains, the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management executive committee meeting – chaired by Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa – today decided to reconstruct the houses of the affected populace before the monsoon. Home Minister Thapa, on the occasion, instructed all the agencies to work in close coordination.
The government has started collecting on-the-ground details from the disaster-hit settlements. The deadly tornado – the first and strongest ever recorded in the country’s history – claimed at least 28 lives and left thousands of people roofless, apart from battering parts of 10 rural municipalities and municipalities in the two districts. It also damaged 1,895 houses, forcing the survivors to spend the first two nights under the open skies without food and water.
The meeting – including the secretaries of different ministries and focal persons of different humanitarian clusters – apart from chief of National Emergency Operation Centre Bed Nidhi Khanal also assessed the condition of various sectors or clusters and discussed how to move ahead to address the problems in the key sectors including logistics, nutrition and food and security. They decided to request the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation to send 500 solar lights to the windstorm-hit areas as the electricity poles have also been damaged by the deadly tornado.
Likewise, the meeting also requested UNICEF to send mosquito nets for the families as there is a risk of spreading of Malaria due to poor sanitation. Other UN agencies are already sending medical kits and other hygiene related items. Health experts have warned that the disaster-hit areas is prone to disease outbreak due to poor hygiene, scarcity of clean drinking water and hygienic food and sleeping outdoors without roof.
The meeting between focal persons on three clusters – logistics, nutrition and food and security – also concluded that the situation has mostly returned to normalcy in majority of the places.
Similarly, the nutrition cluster has thought of providing the survivors with vitamin supplements after inspecting them in the villages and also in the hospitals.
The government has yesterday handed over the responsibility of building new housing projects for the windstorm-hit families to the Army to make it faster.

Army to build houses for tornado-hit

The cabinet meeting today decided to assign the Nepali Army to rebuild the houses of tornado-hit victims – of Bara and Parsa in the southern plains – based on the government’s People’s Housing Programme model, a home with four rooms including a kitchen. According to official figures, around 1,400 houses were damaged in the disaster that left 28 people dead.
Though the government has claimed that reconstruction assignment to Army will help finish rebuilding damaged houses before monsoon, the move has drawn flak as the national defence force has been involved more into development works. Apart from involvement in development activities lately, Nepal Army has been criticisised for increasing its commercial activities. The Nepal Army is also looking for legal leverage for investment in profit-making ventures through the amendment in the existing Act. The Army Act 2006 puts legal barriers for it to invest as a promoter, which has stopped it from pouring money in hydropower, banks and other business.
Though, Nepal Army could be ustilised for emergency, the tradition of involving Army in regular business will not only make the regular government mechanism redundant and demoralise them but also hit the the financial discipline and transparency. Since the Army does not fall under the jurisdiction of oversight agencies like the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), it could not ensure accountability, transparency and financial discipline.
The government has formed a five-member committee led by chief secretary of Province 2 to facilitate the reconstruction process. "The committee includes chief district officers (CDO) of Bara and Parsa and representatives from the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Urban Development," said government spokesperson and minister of Communications and Information Technology Gokul Baskota.
The government claimed that the decision was taken considering the fact that it is important to complete the reconstruction as soon as possible given the monsoon is around the corner.
Province 2 chief minister Lalbabu Raut defended the federal government move. "The provincial government or local levels executing the reconstruction will result in delays due to their compulsion to follow due procedures like Public Procurement Act," he said, adding that this is an emergency situation. "Since it is very important to ensure shelter for the affected people before monsoon, the army has the expertise and human resources needed to complete the task on time."
He also said that the provincial government will arrange necessary funds from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and other sources.

Crops across 3,736 bighas damaged in Bara

The devastating tornado – the first ever recorded in Nepal – that hit Bara villages on Sunday night has also affected agricultural sector, apart from human casualty and injuries.
According to a preliminary report by the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoLMAC) of Province 2, the tornado damaged crops and fruits across 3,736 bighas of land across 21 villages in Bara district.
Crops including wheat, maize, vegetables, red lentils and fruits that had already been planted in 1,505 bighas of land in Bara have been completely damaged, the report reads, adding that the disaster has partially affected planted crops and fruits across 2,231 bighas of land. "The tornado has primarily affected wheat that was ready for harvest."
Secretary at MoLMAC of Province 2 Vijay Chandra Jha said that that the report is a preliminary document. "The actual impact on the agriculture sector will be known only after a few days as a number of teams have been deployed in the field to collect data."