Six weeks after a collapse of glacial ice and rock sent a torrent down three of Nepal’s rivers, at least 1,400 people are confirmed dead and nearly 5,300 are still missing. The UN children’s agency says some of the worst-hit places “look like war zones”.
Communities in Nepal are still struggling to rebuild six weeks after the country’s deadly flooding disaster, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday, October 9, according to UN News.
The Toll
- At least 1,400 people killed, including 84 children
- Nearly 5,300 people still missing
The disaster began in late August, when a mass of glacial ice and rock collapsed into the Bhotekoshi, Upper Trishuli and Narayani-Gandak rivers. The torrent that followed washed away bridges and homes.
‘Like War Zones’
Speaking from Kathmandu, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said parts of the affected towns and villages “look like war zones”. Access to some communities in the Rasuwa district remains difficult.
He described meeting Sahara, a 16-year-old whose mother was swept away and killed. “It’s not nice to live without a mum,” she told him.
Supplies by Air
The most isolated areas are still being supplied by airlift, said Caroline Holt of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
“In the hardest-hit locations, families face disrupted markets, higher transport costs and shortages of essential goods as roads and communications are gradually restored,” she said.
“People need more than assistance to survive, they need confidence in their future,” she added. “They need to know where they live, how they will earn an income and when their children can return to school.”
One Family’s Loss
Elder described a couple, Shushila and Jivan, whose home was hit by floodwater more than two metres high. It destroyed their tailor’s shop and tea store, and they escaped with only the clothes they were wearing.
UNICEF gave the family cash assistance. They spent it, he said, on their children: books, stationery and clothes.
A Warming Himalaya
Elder said the Himalayas are warming “about twice as fast as the global average”, raising the risk of further disasters of this kind.
Nepal produces only 0.1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
“Unless the world acts to reduce climate risks, we will keep returning to the same valleys after the next flood and after the next landslide, and yet again find children paying the highest price,” he said.
A Call Before COP31
Elder welcomed international pledges on climate-related loss and damage, but said they must quickly become support that reaches affected families.
The next UN climate summit, COP31, is due to be held in Antalya, Türkiye, from November 9 to 20.
Image: The Trishuli River in Nepal in 2019, before this year’s floods (file photo). Photo by Bijay Chaurasia via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.