No roof, no hope: Displaced families in Nepal demand resettlement after devastating floods

Living in a makeshift shelter near Nepal’s Trishuli River, Shanti Dangol spends her days looking for traces of her former home and questioning when she will be able to rebuild her life under a real roof. Dangol is among hundreds of people living in tents after a catastrophic Himalayan flood on August 26, triggered by a mountain and glacier collapse near Nepal's border with China. More than 1,400 people died and over 5,000 remain missing after tsunami-like waves swept through the northern mountainous areas, destroying homes, roads, bridges and settlements. A government report shows more than 7,500 private houses were damaged.

Dangol, a former hotel owner, now lives in a forest clearing in Betrawati, in Rasuwa district, sharing the plot with 25 other families who also lost their homes. She lost 18 relatives and two four-storey houses, and four of her hotel employees are still missing.

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"The river now flows where our house once stood," she told AFP. "Where will the government settle us?"

"We just want somewhere to live, we don't need anything more," she said.

In Rasuwa alone, more than 1,000 people are in temporary shelters, said district chief administrative officer Kamal Prasad Pandey. He said authorities were also concerned about their permanent settlement, hygiene and mental health.

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Aarati Magar, 26, who lost her newly opened hotel, lives in a tent on the same plot with her daughters, aged eight and three. She worries about their safety and education. "It is tough to stay here. There is no bathing place and no proper place to live," she said.

For 58-year-old Narayan Man Dangol, months in a tent are a particular worry with winter approaching. "The wind will carry it away, and then it will rain again. This is just cloth," he said. He said he had lost his life's earnings and, at his age, could no longer work in the fields.

Dharam Raj Uprety, head of Nepal's disaster agency, said authorities were moving to the search and recovery phase and working on transitional shelters and identifying resettlement areas.

Families have also lost businesses, jobs and access to essential services, leaving many unsure how to rebuild. Kyoko Yokosuka, head of the UN Development Programme in Nepal, said recovery means more than rebuilding infrastructure. It involves helping people restore livelihoods, reopening local economies and restoring essential services, she said.

Prime Minister Balendra Shah told the United Nations last month that the flooding was a warning to the world about the rising dangers of climate change.

For Dangol, the immediate concern is finding a safe place to live. "We don't want the next generation to be homeless like us," she said.