Get Prepared For Spring Disasters

People with extraordinary minds, such as writers, poets, artists, and others, seldom get tired of praising the spring season. But the people with seemingly average minds, like farmers, labourers and elderlies, who have a huge knowledge and experience of natural phenomena, fear the season. They take extra-precautions during this season. That's because cases of wildfire, dry-landslide, floods and avalanche become regular events during this time, when we are especially scared of two things: forest fire and devastating flood.  

We are in the midst of the spring. However, in sharp contrast to the fulsome praise, Nepal is currently battling hundreds of incidents of fires engulfing forests and settlements. Images sent by NASA FIRMS satellite show hundreds of forest fires sweeping the vast swaths of land from low Terai to high mountains. Three Nepali Army personnel died in course of dousing forest fire in Manang recently. Over two-hundred houses have been destroyed by fire in Rukum West and property and animal sheds worth fiercer, with over a hundred houses already gutted in those districts.  

With the arrival of spring, fire incidents have become frighteningly common in various part of the country. But, no matter how fearsome they can get, fire incidents can be kept in check if extra-precautions are taken. In the prolonged dry season spanning from March to May, forest fire can be ignited by colliding rolling stones or when two or more bamboos are rubbed by wind, which consumes the bamboos and surrounding area. Such a fire is extremely difficult to put out. But the fire in the settlements can be prevented if the inhabitants take extra-precautions. This is the season of wheat, barley, oat and other cereals. We harvest such crops and set the left overs, like stalks, stubble, on fire in order to clear the farmland for new crops. In some cases, such fires ignite the whole settlements. Taking precautionary measures while setting them ablaze can contain such fire.    

What's more, a burning cigarette is another source of fire that has many times reduced the settlements into ashes. If a cigarette smoker throws away a burning portion of it, it can engulf the thatched roofed settlements within minutes. So, the heavy smokers must be careful not to irresponsibly throw away a burning cigarette. There is one more source of damaging inferno: a pyromaniac person. People from varied interests inhabit a society, and some of them enjoy fire-flames. They are referred to as pyromaniac people. We should recognise such people by closely observing their likes and dislikes. Doing so can mean keeping society safe from raging infernos. 

The spring season can also bring heavy pre-monsoon rains and land-slides – which can take catastrophic toll on societies and their inhabitants. The devastating floods that wreaked havoc across the Melamchi Drinking Water Project and surrounding area as a result of swollen Melamchi River on June 15, 2021 still continues to haunt us. We are currently seeing a prolonged dry situation. If there are heavy rain conditions anytime, the odds of flooding and landslides will spike. To mitigate the disastrous impacts, governments in local, provincial and federal as well as the Department of Hydrology and Metrology should work in tandem. Doing so can keep many lives and properties safe from danger.