Nepal Flash Floods: Medical Aid Teams Reach Evacuees in Remote Areas Amid Rising Toll

Medical outreach teams are treating evacuated patients, including those sheltering in Nepal Army barracks, as part of an effort to bring care to communities in remote mountainous areas of Nepal where roads and bridges have been washed out for miles. The August 25 flash floods and debris flow swept through areas of northern Nepal and southern Tibet, killing at least 538 people.

Teams from Mountain Heart Nepal, a medical aid group that specializes in medical outreach to the Himalayan foothills, treated patients today in Nuwakot, Nepal, where the organization has been providing care to evacuees sheltering in army barracks.

Rescue operations are continuing, and more than 1,900 people are still missing, a number that doubled in recent hours. Among the missing are people from Nepal and more than a dozen countries. More than 90 Americans remain missing in the region, the U.S. State Department announced Friday.

More than 3,700 people have been rescued, and Mountain Heart Nepal is providing care to evacuees in Nuwakot.

The organization is equipped with Direct Relief-provided field medic packs, which contain medical essentials for first responders providing care outside of clinic walls. Mountain Heart Nepal had medical aid from Direct Relief pre-positioned in-country and was able to deploy quickly.

Direct Relief is preparing a large shipment of medical support to Mountain Heart Nepal and other organizations, and is also providing the group with emergency operating funds to support their immediate work of bringing medical services to areas cut off from care.

Shipments of medical support, including medications for chronic disease management, including diabetes and COPD, wound care supplies, and other medical aid, are being prepared for Dhulikhel Hospital, which has also deployed medical staff to provide care.

At least 25 miles of roads were washed out or destroyed by the influx of floodwaters and mud, according to Nepal's Department of Roads. This has left at least 250,000 people stranded in remote areas with little access to basic needs.

"There has been significant damage across all infrastructure," according to Dustin Shiau, Direct Relief's Emergency Response Manager for Asia Pacific, on an emergency briefing call on Friday.

"Access is and will remain the major challenge," he said, given the damage to transportation routes that were already extremely limited in the mountainous area.

Needs around emergency health are expected to climb, as lack of clean water, hygiene and sanitation, and mass displacement contribute to immediate medical needs.

Direct Relief maintains an extensive inventory of medications and supplies commonly requested after disasters, including essential medications, surgical supplies, water purification equipment, personal protective gear, and more. The organization is coordinating with multiple disaster response organizations in the country, including nonprofit organizations, hospital systems, and the country's Ministry of Health.

Direct Relief has a long history of support for Nepal, including during the country's devastating 2015 earthquake, which killed 9,000 people and caused massive damage to infrastructure, including health services.

Since 2009, the organization has provided more than $119 million in medical aid to Nepal 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 struck.