A culvert proves to be lifesaver for students
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Authors
Prakash Khadka
Issue Date
16/02/2017
Type
Language
en
Keywords
Development , Disasters
Alternative Title
Abstract
Khairichandanpur–1, Manjhara, a community settled in the eastern side of Rajapur of Bardia district, is surrounded by Geruwa River, a tributary of Karnali River. The community with 110 households and a population of 533, faces a year-long problem of inaccessibility. To reach the community, one has to row a boat often used for fishing by the community people. The community has only one government school - Shree Geruwa Prathamik Vidyalaya, which provides education till fourth standard. After the completion of fourth grade, students migrate to other schools outside Manjhara. Most of the students of Shree Geruwa Prathamik Vidyalaya continue their further studies at Janchetna Higher Secondary School in Mangalpur of Khairichandanpur Village Development Committee (VDC). Every time the students from Manjhara use boats to reach the school in Mangalpur, they also need to cross a drain in Lalpur on the route to school. During the monsoon, the water level reaches above five feet creating difficulties to cross the section. This affected the passage of students and they were not able to go to their school due to inundation at the route drain connecting their school during monsoons. Nepal Flood Resilience Project (NFRP) is working closely with the community to provide a flood early warning system and access to the community people during flood times. It aims for a disaster resilient community through community capacity building and different structural and non-structural mitigation work. To address the problem of the community, a concrete culvert over the drain was constructed for flood risk reduction. The constructed culvert is elevated and prevents the risk of inundation on the route. The guiding poles on the culvert show the way and end of it when the water flows over it. “This culvert has turned out to be a lifesaver for students like me,” shares 12-year-old Nar Bahadur Thapa of Manjhara, a student of 7th grade studying in Janchetna Higher Secondary School of Mangalpur, Khairichandanpur VDC. “Earlier, it was very difficult for us to cross the drain during monsoon. We were not able to reach our school for 2-3 days and sometimes more depending on the rainfall. Now, because of this concrete culvert, we can easily reach our school even during flood. We are very happy.” Besides students of Manjhara, this culvert has benefited the people of Lalpur community in reaching community centre, a place of safety and also for attending meetings and pursuing further education. Physical structures constructed for risk reduction are very effective for enhancing the mobility in hard times. The community people are happy and assured that even if the flood occurs, they can easily move to a safer place without any hindrances.
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