Nepali Times
Domestic Brief
The science of prediction


On average, some 300 people die every year in Nepal as a result of monsoon floods. The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology says that while it has the manpower to predict floods and improve preventive measures, it lacks the necessary equipment to do so. Department head Adarshprasad Pokhrel says that an estimated Rs 1 billion budget has already been prepared to build a advance warning system, but no donors have been found yet, although the Japanese government has promised some assistance. The department estimates that one flood prediction radar station, which costs $10,000, can help prevent as much as 75 percent of the damage that would be caused without a warning system.

In Nepal, monsoon-related floods and landslides destroy property worth over Rs 70 million and damage over 50 hectares of land every year, and a report released by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Society says that floods affect close to 100,000 people annually here.


LATEST ISSUE
638
(11 JAN 2013 - 17 JAN 2013)


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