Nepal assesses if quake-hit villages are at risk before rain

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Geologists were sent to earthquake-damaged mountain villages in Nepal this week to assess landslide risks before the rainy season begins next month, an official said Friday.

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.

They are scheduled to report their findings in Kathmandu next week, and the government would then 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.