Brief communication: Loss and damage from a catastrophic landslide in Nepal

Abstract

This brief communication reports key findings of a recent piece of research that studied the impacts of the 2014 Jure landslide in Sindhupalchok (Nepal) and the effectiveness of household preventive and coping measures. The people-centered methods reveal not just what was lost in the disaster, but also how and why. A key finding of the household survey is that households in higher income groups incurred higher losses in monetary terms, simply because they had more to lose. By contrast, lower-income households lost more in relative terms: the value of their losses amounted to 14 times their annual earnings. Many lower-income households will never fully recover from this blow to their livelihoods and wellbeing. The findings have important implications for discussions on loss and damage valuation, compensation and relief.