Bhutan - Floods and Landslides OCHA Situation Report No. 2

OCHA/GVA - 2000/0142
OCHA Situation Report No. 2
Bhutan - Floods and Landslides
11 August 2000

Situation

1. Due to unusually heavy rains starting on 31 July 2000, landslides and floods have struck several areas in south Bhutan, along the border with India which has also been exposed to disastrous flooding triggered by monsoon rains. The disaster is the worst in recorded history in Bhutan. Phuentsholing and Pasakha are the worst affected towns.

Background Information

2. The Kingdom of Bhutan lies in the eastern Himalayas, between China to the north and the Indian States of Assam and West Bengal to the south. The country houses about 1.9 million people in an area of 47,000 square kilometres, nearly the same size as Denmark or Switzerland. The economy, one of the world's smallest and least developed, is based on agriculture and forestry, which provide the main livelihood for 90% of the population and account for about 40% of the GDP.

3. The most prevalent natural hazards are violent storms coming down from the Himalayas and frequent landslides during the rainy season. However, during the last decades, the only recorded major disasters occurred in 1994, when the country experienced a devastating cyclone in May, which claimed 17 lives and affected nearly 65,000 people, and floods in October, in which 22 people were killed and 600 affected.

Damage

4. A detailed official report on the flood situation is not yet available. According to initial information, the road network suffered extensive damage. Numerous roads remain blocked due to landslides and erosion. Many trucks, buses and other vehicles were submerged and the main water supply in the affected area was cut off when water pipes burst. More than a thousand people have been left homeless and are in temporary shelters.

5. A joint UNICEF/WFP survey was conducted on 9 August on the conditions of the Phuentsholing-Thimphu highway, which is a major lifeline in the country. The mission made the following observations:

• The road situation is critical. While road clearance and emergency repair are expected to last two weeks, further heavy rainfall may hamper the ongoing efforts to alleviate the situation. The disrupted road network already has an impact on daily life in inland areas, even in the capital Thimphu. There is fuel rationing, lack of meat and vegetable products, rise in prices of staple commodities, and an increase of public transportation costs. These consequences could affect, in particular, the more economically vulnerable groups.
• The breakdown of water supply has become the most serious problem caused by the floods. There is a need to intervene in the water supply sector in order to prevent water-born diseases, along with cholera and typhoid, though no disease outbreak has yet been reported.
• Poor road conditions and continuing wet weather prevent a proper assessment of the situation and make it difficult for development workers, both national and international, to formulate adequate interventions. As a result, both data and qualitative information are often misleading and inaccurate.

National and International Response

6. The Bhutanese Government has deployed both manpower and relief supplies to help the affected population.

7. No request for international assistance has been received by OCHA to date.

8. On 8 August, the UN Resident Coordinator in Thimphu officially offered to the Head of Government whatever assistance the UN could provide to alleviate the emergency situation, if requested by the Government.

9. OCHA is in close contact with the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Thimphu and will revert with further information, as it becomes available.

10. This situation report, together with further information on ongoing emergencies, is also available on the OCHA Internet Website at http://www.reliefweb.int

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E-mail: ochagva@un.org

In case of emergency only: Tel. +41-22-917 20 10

Desk Officers: Ms. S. Metzner-Strack / Mr. R. Mueller / Mr. S. Matsuka Direct Tel. +41-22-917 21 44 / 31 31 / 40 34

Press contact: (in GVA) Mr. Donato Kiniger-Passigli, direct Tel. +41-22-917 26 53 - (in N.Y.) Ms. Phyllis Lee,Direct Tel. +1-212-963 48 32