On the morning of June 16, Bhutan woke up to the tragic news that 10 people had been killed in a landslide at around 1 am in the northern district of Gasa. This was the largest number of fatalities in a natural disaster in Bhutan this year. Landslides and flooding killed six people in 2019 and four in 2020.
The victims – seven women and three men – had been camped with 33 other people from Lungo village at a place called Ri-Drupzhi in Laya Gewog, Gasa district, since May 17. They were collecting cordyceps, a valuable fungus believed to have medical properties, local community leader Lhakpa Tshering told The Third Pole. Five others were severely injured and were airlifted to the National Referral Hospital in the Bhutanese capital Thimphu.
The rescue was only possible because one of the cordyceps collectors, Phurpa, who was camping some distance away, heard their cries and contacted the local authorities. At least six children in Lungo village have lost their mothers to…