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Storm wrecks havoc in eastern Bhutan

23 May 2008

a-house-after-the-storm-in-yangneer.jpgStrong storms struck the eastern dzongkhags twice, raising serious concerns about when another might strike. The storm lasted about 10 minutes, blowing away 58 roofs.

“It’s very new to the people here, we never heard of such kind of disaster. It’s quite scary as one casualty was reported in Pemagatshel and we feared that there might be more casualties,” said Phuntsho, 29, father of two sons in Yangneer.
He said last winter, after a dry spell of 14 years, there was a surprise snowfall and now it’s the storm; another unexpected weather pattern.

Nine gewogs were affected by the strong wind storms in Trashigang. The most affected was Lumang gewog where the roofs of 33 houses and three schools; Tsangpo PS, Lumang PS and Dungmanba Community School, were blown away, along with some walls.

In Thrimshing, five houses, two schools, Tsangpo PS and Thunkhar LS School were affected. In Khaling, five houses were affected by the windstorms. In Udzorong, one lhakhang and a house bore the brunt of the storm. In Shongphu, two houses were destroyed, and in Bartsham, one house was destroyed. In Bidung, the gup’s office was damaged along with three houses in Yangneer and one in Kangpara.

“The affected areas will be given tarpaulin to make temporary roofs, to keep the rain away,” said the Wamrong Dungpa.
“Such disaster is new and we will never know when another one might strike,” said the Khaling Gup, Kunzang Tobgay.
Kunzang Dema, 19, from Brekha, said that she does not feel safe.

“I collect fire woods from the forest and if such strong wind strikes, it might break the branches of trees and kill me, like the one in Pemagatshel,” she said.

he Trashigang Dzongda, Dorji Norbu, said a team of five official had already left for the affected gewogs, to investigate the type and extent of damages caused by the storm.

“The insured houses will be getting insurance for the damages but for those not insured, some kind of compensation will be given by the government,” he added.

A team, consisting of an engineer, an RBP official, a revenue officer, a RICB official, a GYT member and gewog people is still investigating the affected areas in Trashigang.

The Trashigang Dzongrab, Phuntsho Gyeltshen, said some of the houses were severely damaged but were not as bad as the last cyclone, which destroyed about 200 households. He is leading one of the teams visiting the affected places.
“The engineers will be calculating the damage cost and we will be mobilizing labour, to help the affected houses in the villages,” he added.

Meanwhile, five teams are still in the field investigating the affected areas and measuring the extent of damages caused, including updates on the number of households’ damaged. Villages that are too remote are yet to be covered.

By Sonam Rinchen

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Posted by Bhutan Observer · Filed Under News 

Comments

One Response to “Storm wrecks havoc in eastern Bhutan”

  1. deki on May 27th, 2008 1:17 pm

    i am from the effect place tashigang and my new house roof is totaly destoryed and till now , no any help from govt. has been given nor the insurance company, my family has lots of problem, its raining and living in hell.

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