Nepal Flash Floods: Five Days After the Floods, Secondary Health Risks Rise

Five days have passed since flash floods and debris flows swept through the border region of northern Nepal, and emergency responders are continuing search and rescue efforts, including for several hundred workers believed to be trapped in underground tunnels near hydropower projects in the area.

The death toll rose to 950 people on Monday, with more than 4,400 people missing. Access remains extremely limited, with 32 bridges destroyed and 25 miles of road destroyed. Many places are only reachable by helicopter, and monsoonal rains are threatening to cause further flooding. Roughly 10,000 households need immediate relief, according to Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.

Direct Relief-supported organizations have deployed to the disaster zone with equipment and medications pre-positioned before the floods began.

Direct Relief partner Dhulikhel Hospital has emergency medical staff on the ground, with a medical team based out of Dhunche, about 12 miles southwest down valley from the main border-crossing impact zone.

The group reported that they have deployed doctors and surgeons via Nepal Army helicopters to bolster the capacity of hospitals in the impacted areas, including Rasuwa Hospital. In addition, Dhulikhel Hospital doctors have flown into Syabrubesi to support internally displaced people, and to Galgung to provide care to hydropower tunnel survivors.

The Transition to Secondary Health Emergency Risks

While search and rescue operations are still underway, the immediate life-saving work is giving way to restoring basic health services for thousands of displaced people, including primary care, medication for diabetes and high blood pressure, care for pregnant women and new mothers, and clean water and hygiene, said Gordon Willcock, Direct Relief's Asia Pacific Regional Director.

"The concern our partners raise most urgently is disease," he said. "When people are displaced into crowded conditions without safe water or sanitation, in an environment where human and animal remains have not been recovered, outbreaks become the second emergency. That is why the requests we are receiving are for IV fluids, antibiotics, protective equipment, rapid diagnostic tests, and water treatment supplies."

On-the-Ground Healthcare Deployment

To support these needs, Direct Relief is preparing a 21-ton shipment of medical aid and medications to multiple organizations in Nepal, including Dhulikhel Hospital and Mountain Heart Nepal, which also received financial support from Direct Relief and deployed to impacted areas to provide care.

Items included in the shipment:

• Diabetes management medications and supplies
• Respiratory health medicines
• Essential medications
• Trauma and wound care supplies
• Solar chargers and lights
• Emergency health kits, filled with medicines and supplies commonly requested after emergencies
• Field medic packs, designed for first responders providing care in disaster settings
• Hygiene products, including soap, shampoo, and dental care items for displaced people

Direct Relief has shared its available medical inventory with Nepal's Ministry of Health and other in-country partners, and is working through formal request lists as they come in - currently weighted toward IV fluids, antibiotics, protective equipment, rapid diagnostic tests, and water treatment supplies.

Direct Relief is also providing financial support to the Shanti Foundation for emergency flood response efforts to impacted women and children. The foundation, led by Shanti Tamang, a long-time partner of Direct Relief, will be providing hygiene supplies, child-friendly spaces in displacement centers and temporary settlements, and psychosocial support.

Long-Term Commitment to Nepal's Health Infrastructure

Direct Relief's engagement in Nepal dates to 1985 and has provided more than $119 million in medical aid across 48 partner organizations, 206 shipments, 638,000 lbs. of aid, and 34.9 million defined daily doses of medicine - including a $287,000 shipment of diabetes and cancer medications delivered this month, before the flood.