By IANS
Kathmandu : At least 28 people have died in heavy rains and ensuing landslides in Nepal even as some other parts of the agrarian country are in the throes of a severe drought.
The army was called in to rescue the residents of Gwalichour and Jaljala villages in Baglung district of western Nepal after incessant rainfall since Thursday triggered landslides, burying dozens of houses.
By Saturday noon, people searching the debris had found 23 bodies, most of them female.
Seven people, including young children, are still missing. Rescuers have not been able to reach some areas due to the difficult terrain, a private television channel reported.
Landslides also hit Bajura district in the remote midwestern region, killing at least five people. But as some of the areas are as far as five to six days’ walk from the district headquarters, details were not available immediately.
The people who survived the landslides are struggling to shelter themselves in tents amid rivers of mud and torrential rain.
Injured people who were rescued from under mounds of mud and airlifted to hospitals are struggling for their lives. Food and medicines are in short supply in the affected areas.
Some of the dead are yet to be identified with other members of the families and neighbours missing. Excessive rain and landslides also brought transport to a standstill in areas of Nawalparasi district in southern Nepal though no deaths were reported immediately.
Even as the government grappled with the tragedy, drought struck other areas.
Though Nepal’s economy primarily rests on a good monsoon, the rains have been delayed in several districts, including Kathmandu and its neighbouring Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts.
The Nepal Farmers Association is asking the government to declare areas without rainfall drought-hit areas and aid the farmers, who are staring at a failed paddy crop.
In Kanchanpur, another district in the remote western region, a 12-year-old girl died due to heat stroke Friday.
The weather pattern in Nepal has been affected this year with an unusually hot summer and a weak monsoon, factors that are likely to play havoc with agriculture and consequently, the economy.