Sunkoshi Landslide: Aftermath and Opportunity

On August 2, a massive landslide hit Mankha VDC of Sindhupalchok district. This landslide which occurred on Sunkoshi river wiped out the entire village and took so many lives. It blocked the river and created a dam with the formation of a large lake. The landslide is considered to be one of the most disastrous natural calamities to hit the country in more than a decade.

In a quest to find out the nature of the landslide and more interestingly the lake created by it, I actually did a site visit. The landslide area is 90 km away from Kathmandu.

At a first glance, the lake looks really beautiful. That was my first impression. But the damage done by the landslide was devastating.

1) The entire village of Mankha VDC has been wiped out.

2) More than 150 people are dead.

3) Power transmission from five hydropower projects—Bhotekoshi (45MW), Sunkoshi (10MW), Sanima Sunkoshi (2.5MW), Chaku (6MW) and Bhairabkunda (3MW) has been halted temporarily. The powerhouse of Sanima hydro is completely underwater.

4) Thousands of people are homeless.

5) Araniko highyway, the only highway connecting China and Nepal, is blocked. About 1 km of the section of the highway, which is the main trading route between Nepal and China´s Tibet region, is submerged.

6) Upstream risk:-  As works on draining the lake created by an artificial dam is not improving as expected, the residents in Barhabise, nearly 4 km upstream, are living in constant terror.

7) Dowstream risk:- Thousands of people living downstream are living in a threat of lake outburst. The damage will be more devastating if the dam explodes.

What government is doing to clear up the mess?

1) A team of engineers from the Nepal army are setting off dynamite blasts in an effort to clear the landslide and let the water flow through a channel. According to the latest report, the inflow of water to the lakes is lower than the outflow from the dam.

2) The government is expediting distribution of relief to the landslide victims.

3) The efforts to rehabilitate flood victims and the reconstruction of damaged highway were also underway.

4) The area downstream was declared a potential crisis zone by the governments both Nepal and India and fresh alerts were issued.

I hope government will tackle the problem soon. The reason for my site visit was not to see the damage done by the landslide only but to look for the opportunity. Before moving to next context, let’s find out the technical details of the lake.

According to ICIMOD, the length, width and height of the dam is 409m, 106m and 55m respectively. The length of lake is 3 kilometer. The total water volume stored in the lake is around 8 million cubic meter. Likewise, Nepal Army Brigadier General Ashwin Kumar Thapa informed that water inflow in the artificial lake is 180-200 cumec, while outflow of water from the reservoir is 350 cumec. The current water inflow rate is normal rate for Sunkoshi River during Monsoon,” he said.

I see the whole incident as a gift by nature. With due respect and sympathy to all the people who suffered from this disaster, we all have to accept the nature of mother earth. I strongly believe those people who suffered should be compensated. At the same time, we should look towards the opportunity that the lake has created to our country.

We all have to remember that this lake was filled within 14 hours from the occurrence of actual landslide. In addition, more than two weeks have been passed by and the dam is still holding the water despites so many explosions by Nepal army in an attempt to widen the channel for water outflow. One of the main reasons behind the strength of the dam is the width. Its 106m wide and mainly boulders (big) filled.

This type of lake can be utilized for multipurpose activities. It can boost the tourism, fishery and most importantly, hydropower generation. About 63 MW projects have been affected by this lake. But if the lake is utilized properly, we may generate electricity by many times than we lost. It is weird to think about the opportunity when the entire country is focusing on managing the consequences. But hey I am not the only one. The team of experts yesterday has submitted a recommendation proposal to government to explore the opportunity from this lake.