Nepal

Nepal a mountainous country boasts seven of the world's eight highest peaks, including the Mount Everest. 80% of the land area of 147,181 sq. km is made up of mountains and hills. It is also a landlocked country with its nearest point to the sea being 960 km away. It has a unique altitudinal variation from 60 m at Jhapa in the south to 8,848 m at Mt. Everest in the north, quite a big variation in such a small country. The Terai plain, a low and flat land (100m-300m), stretches in the southern part of the country along the Indian border. The orogenic movement of the mountains make Nepal most vulnerable to earthquakes. Hinduism and Buddhism are the two main religions practiced in Nepal. There are some 2,700 shrines in the Katmandu Valley.

Nepal is exposed to most disaster types ranging from earthquakes, floods, landslides, droughts, storms, avalanches, hailstorms, fires, epidemics and ecological hazards. A wide range of physiological, geological, ecological, meteorological and demographic factors contribute to the vulnerability of the country to disasters. Major factors contributing to disasters are rapid population growth, slow economic development, a high degree of environmental degradation, fragility of the land mass and high elevation of the mountain slopes .

Earthquakes:

Nepal lies in a region of high seismic activity. Earthquakes with magnitudes of 5 to 8 on the Richter scale have been experienced throughout the country and 279 earthquakes with epicenters in Nepal and magnitudes above 3.9 have been recorded so far. The country's high seismicity is related to the presence of active faults between tectonic plates along the Himalayas, mainly in the main boundary fault and the main central thrust. Chains of active faults run for around 100 km, interrupted by inactive sections. There are also active faults in the lower Himalayas and along the southern slope of the Siwalik range. One main reason for Nepal's vulnerability to earthquake is the poor construction of public buildings and house especially in densely populated areas like Kathmandu.

Floods and Landslides:

Floods and landslides are often interrelated in Nepal. Some landslides are triggered by riverbank erosion, and some flash floods are aggravated by landslides in the areas adjoining riverbanks. Both these phenomenon occur during the monsoon season. Glacial lake outburst floods are common in the Himalayan region, and are triggered by a wide range of hydrological, geological and seismic factors. Disastrous flash floods usually occur in Nepal when landslides or debris block a river for several hours and the water is then releases suddenly, inundating the adjacent area downstream in a rapid and turbulent manner. Continuous heavy rainfall may also cause flash floods in many rivers originating in hilly regions. Flash floods may also be caused by an avalanche, snowstorm or cloudburst.

A significant number of landslides occur each year, roughly estimated to over 12,000. Various natural and man-made factors contribute to the high incidence of landslides. Natural factors include steep slopes, undercutting of their banks by incised rivers, weathered, fractured and weak rocks in the mountains, high rainfall and seismic activities. Man-made factors responsible for landslides in the country are intensive deforestation, improper agriculture and irrigation practices, overgrazing on the slopes, quarrying for construction materials, and construction of infrastructure beyond the bearing capacities of the hill slopes, Landslides frequently occur in the monsoon season following an earthquake in the previous year.

Fires

Most fires occur during summer, particularly in the Terai region when the temperatures are high and strong winds occur. Some of the reasons for the fire outbreaks are poor use of fire, for cooking and other purposes and lack of adequate fire safety measures. Forest fires are also common in the hilly areas of Terai forests.

Nepal has had a history of severe droughts and famines too. Other disasters include epidemics such as measles, cholera, encephalitis, dysentery and diarrhoea, and storms.

Main source: Russell,Nicholas. Acharya, Madhu Rahman and Pant, Ram 1990. "Nepal Country Study " in Disaster Mitigation in Asia and the Pacific published by ADB.