Nepal: Nepal Flood Relief

Although it is a small, landlocked country, Nepal contains great geographical variety, ranging from some of the highest mountain peaks in the world to highlands, hills, and the plains of the Terai region. Nepal also has many lakes, streams, and rivers, which typically flood during the monsoon season (June–September). However, the monsoon rains of 2017 have been exceptionally heavy, triggering floods and landslides on a massive scale in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh and affecting an estimated 24 million people.

In Nepal, hundreds of villages were cut off from transportation, electricity, and communications, 90,000 homes have been destroyed, and 150 people have died. The United Nations has called it Nepal’s worst flooding in a decade. The country’s hilly districts have suffered from landslides, while the southern plains, Nepal’s primary agricultural area, have been most affected by flooding. The Terai region, in particular, has suffered greatly from the wrath of its rivers in districts Saptari, Rautahat, Mahottari, Siraha Bardiya, Sunsari, Banke, Chitwan, Morang, Sarlahi, Kailai, and Jhapa. Because these are mainly farming areas, along with the current difficulties in accessing food, shelter, and clean water, there is concern that the country may experience severe food shortages due to the destroyed crops. Affected populations are also at risk for waterborne and mosquito-borne diseases.

Real Medicine Foundation (RMF) has been active in Nepal since shortly after the April 2015 earthquake, and we continue to provide relief, medical, and educational support in several regions of the country. When RMF Nepal’s team saw the devastation caused by this year’s severe monsoon rains, they determined to provide relief to affected communities.

RMF decided to concentrate our flood relief efforts in the Rautahat District of the Terai region in southern Nepal, where NGO relief services had not yet been extended. Rautahat District is about 200 km from Nepal’s capital city, Kathmandu, and is bordered by India to the south. The Bagmati and Lal Bakaiya rivers both flow through Rautahat District, and because of this year’s exceptionally heavy rainfall, the rivers have overflown their banks and flooded much of the area. The district is home to a large number of Muslim communities (a typically underserved minority group in Nepal), and most families are farmers who have lost their crops in the flooding.