At the time of writing, monsoon season in Nepal is in full flow! The locals are telling me that it’s arrived late this year, but now it’s here, we’ve more than felt its presence, writes Sarah.
THERE have been some badly flooded areas in Kathmandu but thankfully all the Service Family Accommodation (SFA) and Substitute Service Family Accommodation housing British Gurkhas Nepal families have not suffered any major damage.
There have been minor issues with leaks, fallen trees and flooded driveways but the response from the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) to attend and fix the issues has been fantastic.
The service that DIO provides here is amazing. I typically wait less than a week for a repair and on occasions they’ve attended the day after I’ve reported the fault.
There are approximately 40 families in Kathmandu and the housing types are mixed.
There are a number of two- and three-bedroom flats on camp as well as numerous properties in the local community within a one-mile radius.
There are also around ten families living in Pokhara in SFA.
Each property has to be made seismically compliant to ensure the safety of families during any potential earthquakes. To make a property seismically compliant to British standards necessitates a huge investment from the army. It costs approximately £50,000 for each property and takes six months on average for the work to be completed.
Nepal experienced a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in 2015, which caused a considerable amount of devastation across the country.
Thankfully, there’s been nothing as dramatic since, with only two small tremors during the year I’ve been posted here, neither of which I felt!
However, it’s a great comfort to know that the army is investing in our families’ safety and security in this way.