Calamity: The roofs of 28 houses in the villages of Taksha and Silli in Daga gewog, Wangdue were blown away by a windstorm on the evening of April 8.

Daga gewog’s administration officer, Desang Tshering said that almost all the houses suffered major damages with  entire roofs being blown away including the jamthog. Gewog officials, the dzongkhag disaster focal person and officials from the Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan Ltd visited the affected houses on April 9 to access the damages.

Desang Tshering said the roof of one of the houses landed on a nearby hut while three houses suffered minor damages with roofs blown away partially. “Many trees on the way to Taksha village were also uprooted by the windstorm,” he said. “So the farm road to the village was also blocked at various locations after the trees fell on road.”

Gewog officials said that all the affected houses were insured. The gewog is also compiling records of insurance payment details to claim insurance.

A villager in Taksha, Dorji, 38, said this was the first time he witnessed such a windstorm. Dorji along with some of the villagers were in the forest when the windstorm struck the village. “The entire roofing of my two-storey house was blown away,” he said.

Except for the school and lhakhang in the village, almost all households in Taksha were affected.

One of the remotest villages in Wangdue, Taksha and Silli villagers mostly depend on paddy cultivation as a source of income.

“We are worried that it might take years for us to restore the roofs of our houses,” another villager said.

Accessibility was another issue, according to villagers. “It takes days to reach a single piece of timber from the community forest to our village and we can’t afford to hire labours, as it is expensive,” a villager said.

Dawa Gyelmo | Wangdue