(Kathmandu) A huge forest fire on the outskirts of Kathmandu mobilized firefighters and the local population on Thursday to put it out, while the Nepalese authorities are alarmed by the increase in forest fires to “an unimaginable proportion” .
Firefighters worked through the night from Wednesday to Thursday to battle the blaze that ravaged a forested area in Lalitpur, on the southern outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley.
More than 4,500 wildfires have been reported this year across the country, nearly double last year, according to government data. 2021 is the year that recorded an all-time high in the number of forest fires.
“Forest fires have increased to an unimaginable extent,” Sundar Prasad Sharma of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority told AFP.
According to Environment Ministry spokesperson Badri Raj Dhungana, the increase in the number of forest fires this year is due to a long drought and heat wave in Nepal’s southern plains.
“Typically, wildfires peak in late April, but this year they continue to intensify due to rising temperatures,” he said.
Nepal faces forest fires every year, usually starting in March, but their number and intensity have increased in recent years due to drier winters blamed on climate change.
Experts say climate change is causing heat waves to be more frequent, more intense and last longer.
Temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius in Lumbini, a Buddhist pilgrimage town, and other parts of the south, with higher temperatures forecast in the coming days.
More than a hundred schools in the southern city of Butwal were closed for two days on Thursday due to the heat wave.
An exceptional heat wave is currently affecting South and Southeast Asia.
According to the United Nations, Asia was the region most affected by extreme weather events in 2023, with floods and storms causing heavy human and economic losses.
Asia is also warming faster than the global average, according to the World Meteorological Organization, a United Nations agency.