Risk Returns

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] 143

insecurity. Although this has been stabilized, thanks to the

distribution of food by the government and World Food

Programme, this improvement could be jeopardized if the

adverse effects of natural disaster increase due to the effect

of climate change and its consequences (drought, food/

water scarcity, epidemic disease). Because living condi-

tions are extreme, each and every individual is expected

to contribute to help keep the community alive. Because of

migration, women carry an important share of this work-

the scale of damage is often limited and the district’s geographical

isolation is so important that affected people have no other choice but

to find themselves local resources to aid recovery. So we cannot call

the many events that strike the region a ‘disaster’, compared to larger

scale disasters that affect hundreds or thousands of people. However

when such events are so regular that the cumulative effect poses a

threat to the whole community’s development, can we not describe

them as a ‘disaster’? Because living conditions in Humla are extremely

hard, communities do not always inform the authorities, even when

cases of death or destruction have occurred. What is linked to a disas-

ter and what is not is thus hard to determine.

In this context, Mission East concluded that, in this inaccessible

part of the country, the population was confronted by a ‘hidden

disaster’. So the organization decided to implement a community-

based approach to disaster risk reduction.

Numerous hazards – such as landslides, avalanches, mudflows,

lethal epidemic diseases, and fires – occur every year but still

remain unrecorded. Disasters such as landslides and mudflows

mostly affect assets such as land and livestock, while humans (espe-

cially small children and infants with disabilities) are mainly affected

by epidemic diseases, due to poor hygiene conditions and limited

access to healthcare. Abnormal melting of the snow cap at high

altitude can cause an increase in seasonal flooding and destruction

of the meagre arable lands that high altitude communities possess.

Large-scale threats also exist. Droughts or earthquakes can create a

catastrophic situation due to the difficulty accessing the area.

Migration is an important coping mechanism in the region. Men

migrate to India to find seasonal work and relieve households from food

Community Development report

In 2008, in the community of Majhpatal (Humla district),

Mission East, with an important contribution from the

community, implemented an ambitious project aiming at

connecting water flow from at least eight different sources

along a nearly five kilometre long canal. Hundreds of people

reportedly showed up to work on the construction site. The

project came to fruition and water flowed for about a month

until a large landslide completely disrupted the flow. The

landslide proved a crushing blow to the community, which had

laboured intensively to get the system operating. Members

of the community complained that they had done too much

work with no impact – “pani chuinchha, janchha” (‘the water

leaks and goes away’). But this landslide did not affect life or

dwellings and it was not reported to District Headquarters.

From an evaluation report on “Community Development

leading to Sustainable Food Security in Humla district, Mid

West Nepal”, June 2009

Living conditions in Humla are extremely hard

Gothi village, Humla district

Image: Christophe Belperron