Nepal assesses quake-hit villages ahead of monsoon

Nepal is gearing up for the rainy season next month, sending geologists to earthquake-damaged mountain villages to assess landslide risks that could block roads and cause further damage to villages.   Many of them walking to their destinations, the geologists will check the soil in the remote villages in the districts hit worst by the quakes, Home Ministry official Laxmi Prasad Dhakal said on Friday.  The reports will be collected in the coming week, on which and the government would decide which villages are in danger of landslides and need to be relocated.  Dhakal said only few weeks are left to get people to safer areas and it was going to a big challenge.  

Heavy rainfall during the monsoon season has triggered landslides in the past in mountainous Nepal, and the risks are higher because of the earthquakes.  The government was also trying to get heavy equipment to mountain villages before landslides block the highways and roads.  The April 25 and May 12 earthquakes have killed 8,635 people in Nepal and damaged and destroyed buildings, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless.  (Source: AP)