A meeting of the officials from Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) and Ministry of Industry (MoI) took the decision to form the taskforce which will be led by the director general of Department of Mines and Geology (DoMG), Sarbojit Mahatto.
MoI officials said the taskforce, consisting of 18 teams with three members in each, will be mobilized in the districts worst-hit by the April 25 earthquake—Sindhupalchowk, Dolakha, Gorkha, Rasuwa, Dhading and Nuwakot.
"Land structures at various places of the most-affected districts have been altered by the tremor, affecting human settlements," Industry Minister Mahesh Basnet said, adding, "The taskforce will conduct field survey in the six districts and submit a report to the ministry."Basnet said that the geological report submitted by the taskforce would help the government to recolate human settlements of the areas rattled by the earthquake.
The taskforce consists of representatives from Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), DoMG, Department of Survey (DoS), MoI and geological experts from the Tribhuvan University, and INGOs working in the feild such as ICIMOD.
Basnet opined that the geological report, among other things, would give exact number of human settlements affected by the earthquake and help plan resettlement of the affected people.
MoI officials said that the team would prepare its geological report based on field surveys and satallite data.
Roshan Basnet, personal secretary of Minister Basnet, said that the taskforce would start its work in the districts from Wednesday. "We have asked for helicopters with MoHA to mobilize the team," secretary Basnet said, adding, "The survey has to be carried as soon as possible so that the government can do the needful to help the affected settlements and those that are vulnarable to landsides."
The 7.6 magnitude earthquake of April 25 and recurrent aftershocks have damaged land structures in different places of the country, destroying thousands of houses and affecting many human settlements. Government data shows that more than 300,000 houses have been destroyed by the earthquake.
Speaking with Republica, president of the committee Mahatto said that discussions with experts are underway to make the survey effective. "We have been discusssing with the members of the taskforce and other geological experts to develop the roadmap for the survey," Mahatto said, adding "Hopefully, we will begin the work from Wednesday onwards."
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