Nepal: Deadly windstorm in Tarai districts exposes poor warning system and zero preparedness
By Chandan Kumar Mandal
Failure to predict an approaching powerful storm because of poor early warning system, coupled with zero preparedness on the ground, led to one of the worst windstorm devastations in the country on Sunday night.
The weather forecasting authority failed to keep track of the weather phenomenon that late on Sunday evening swept across two Tarai districts—Bara and Parsa—of Province 2, killing at least 27, injuring more than 400 and causing massive damage.
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Officials at the forecasting division said that they are unable to predict windstorms because they lack technology.
“Such weather events are short-lived and hence cannot be predicted before they take place. We can do nowcasting for a few hours at the time the disaster is occurring. We don’t have weather radars to forecast extreme events like windstorms,” [said Saraju Kumar Baidya, director general of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology.]
The government has long planned to install three weather radars to improve weather forecasts and provide real time data on atmospheric weather conditions in the country.
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