Nepal third in internal displacement by natural disasters

Kathmandu / May 11: The Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID 2016) revealed that Nepal recorded the third highest level of new displacement worldwide, in both relative and absolute terms, due to the devastating earthquakes in April and May last year.

There were 19.2 million new displacements associated with disasters brought on by rapid-onset natural hazards in 113 countries in 2015, more than twice as many as for conflict and violence, according to the report.

The vast majority of this displacement was caused by extreme weather events such as storms and flooding, but the April and May earthquakes in Nepal, which forced more than 2.6 million to flee their homes, were a stark reminder of the potential of geophysical hazards to precipitate mass displacements, it said.

In 2015, India, China and Nepal accounted for the highest numbers, with 3.7 million, 3.6 million and 2.6 million respectively. Over the past eight years, 203.4 million displacements have been recorded, an average of 25.4 million each year.

Unlike China and India, the number of people displaced in Nepal was also high relative to its population size, according to the report published by the International Displacement Monitoring. In its cover photo, the report has portrayed a woman walking past the rubble in Kathmandu after the devastating April 25 earthquake last year.