Rasuwa floods: Private property and business losses at 79 billion rupees, infrastructure damage not yet counted

The National Planning Commission's preliminary estimate shows that the Rasuwa-Bhotekoshi floods of Bhadra 10 caused around 79.17 billion rupees in damage to the private property and businesses of ordinary citizens.

The figures appear in the preliminary results of the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) household survey released by the commission. Of the total, about 69.57 billion rupees was in damage to household property and about 9.60 billion rupees to businesses and enterprises.

Households thus bore roughly 88 percent of the private losses. The survey found extensive damage to houses, land, vehicles, household goods, crops and livestock. The largest single category of loss was land, estimated at around 35.44 billion rupees.

According to the commission, about 3,104 structures have been rendered permanently unusable. The flood's impact extended to 15 local levels across four districts — Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading and Gorkha — affecting about 6,817 households and 1,638 businesses.

This assessment does not include damage to roads, hydropower projects, the productive and social sectors, or the environment. Once losses in those sectors are added, the flood's total economic damage is expected to rise further.