KATHMANDU - A Nepali businessman inspired by Japan's efforts to keep the memory of disasters alive is working to preserve areas devastated by flash floods in August so that future generations can learn from them.
"Rebuilding victims' lives is the top priority now, but we must also think about how to pass on the lessons for the next decade or so," said Prakash Poudel, drawing on his experiences visiting Hiroshima's Atomic Bomb Dome and a disaster museum in Kobe, the city hit hard by a huge quake in 1995.
Poudel, owner of a travel agency and a Japanese-language school in Kathmandu, visited Japan in 2009 and 2010. On both occasions, he was part of a program for Japanese-language teachers, touring the Atomic Bomb Dome twice and Kobe's Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution once.
"I was shocked by the horror of the atomic bombing and the destructive power of earthquakes," Poudel said.
The dome was the only structure left standing near the hypocenter after the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and its skeletal remains are preserved as a memorial. The Kobe facility tells the story of the 1995 earthquake that took more than 6,400 lives.
After seeing images of flood damage in Nepal's affected areas, including mud-covered riverbanks and damaged buildings, Poudel recounted what he observed in Japan and decided that the affected sites must be preserved to pass on the memory.
He said the idea came as he felt the memories of another disaster -- the 2015 earthquake which struck central Nepal and killed about 9,000 people -- seemed to be fading. He fears the same could happen with this summer's disaster.
In his proposal, buildings at risk of collapse would be torn down for safety, while the rest of the disaster-hit areas would be preserved with minimal work such as markers showing how high the floodwaters rose.
He also wants to build a facility for climate change researchers on higher ground near the site, where videos and photos of the landslides would be displayed.
Poudel plans to submit the proposal to Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah and government officials.
