Urgent case for recovery: What we can learn from the August 2014 Karnali River floods in Nepal

This paper reviews mid-August 2014 floods in Western Nepal that killed over 200 people to draw lessons that go beyond the immediate events. The findings in the study are based on research and interviews with officials, emergency responders, and residents.

The paper takes a critical look at disaster response in Nepal, where communities are often so poor that they must send their men abroad to work to earn money to pay for rebuilding. There is a sense of urgency that change is needed, and quickly, to spare lives and keep communities intact. The status quo suggests that much could be done to make communities more flood-proof; for example distributing flood maps that sometimes are not made public now for fear of hurting land prices.