Home Minister Lekhak warns against inviting disaster destroying nature

Kathmandu: Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak has said we should not invite risk ourselves by damaging nature.

At a programme ‘Lalitpur Metropolitian City Resilience Fair’ organized by Lalitpur Metropolis at Patan Durbar area on Friday, on the occasion of 10th memorial day of Gorkha earthquake, Home Minister Lekhak recalled the disaster and loss of lives and property caused by it, stressing the need of carrying out activities carefully to reduce risk caused by disaster like earthquake in coming days.

‘Our physical structures should be strong. We should save nature. We should prepare to avoid risk in future, remembering the pain and sorrow faced in past, said Minister Lekhak.

The Home Minister lauded the exemplary works carried out by the Lalitpur metropolis in post-disaster reconstruction, search, rescue and relief tasks. ‘We received much support from donor agencies in the reconstruction task, We are in a risky area. We can predict landslides and floods, but we cannot forecast earthquakes. So we should stay in a ready position, thinking an earthquake may occur anytime’ said Minister Lekhak.

The Home Minister opined that the role of the media is significant in a disaster. Mayor of Lalitpur metropolis, Chiri Babu Maharjan, said that Lalitpur metropolitan city is outstanding in disaster management tasks. We have made arrangements for all the equipment required during a disaster.

He said the metropolis will provide service within four minutes of the disaster., Stating that disaster had damaged many temples in the Patan Durbar area, he said that most of the temples were reconstructed. Senior Vice-President of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Hara Shohei, pointed out the need for preparation and strong unity to carry out activities in a speedy manner during a disaster.

The Support that the Japanese government and JICA have been providing to Nepal and Nepali people will be continued, added the senior vice-president. Mentioning that the geographical conditions of Nepal and Japan are the same, he stressed the need to make physical infrastructure quake-resilient.

Likewise, Japanese Ambassador to Nepal, Maeda Toru, thanked the Lalitpur metropolis for organising a programme to spread awareness to stay safe in a disaster by correcting past weaknesses. He emphasised the need to make bilateral relations between Nepal and Japan further effective.

Deputy-Mayor of Lalitpur metropolis, Anjali Shakya Bajracharya, said the programme was organised to express commitment to follow the rules of nature and spread a message to stay alert.

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