Nepal floods: Indian volunteers take relief to isolated communities

For nearly 20 members of a family in Trishuli, one room has become home after devastating floods destroyed homes, cut roads and left several families without basic amenities. A week on, Indian volunteers are travelling up to 10 hours through damaged mountain roads and bridges to take food, bedding and household essentials to such communities, while some areas of Rasuwa remain accessible only by helicopter.The relief effort is increasingly shifting from accessible flood-hit areas to isolated settlements, where families have lost homes, livestock, belongings and livelihoods, but the terrain and damaged infrastructure make reaching them difficult.“Almost a week after the floods, some of the more accessible areas are slowly seeing relief reach them, but our biggest concern now is reaching the families who have been most severely affected and remain isolated,” Manohar Naidu, a Khalsa Aid volunteer, told The Hindu from Nepal.In Trishuli, Tupche and other remote communities, volunteers have found several families living together with little shelter or basic household equipment. Some, they said, have effectively lost everything.The volunteers also described mass burials being carried out as mortuaries run out of space, with forest land being cleared to accommodate bodies as the death toll rises and many remain unidentified.“Our immediate support is focused on essential relief such as food, clothing, bedding and basic household requirements. At the same time, we are assessing and documenting what each community will need for longer-term recovery,” Mr. Naidu said.Reaching the affected communities has become a major logistical challenge. Some journeys from Kathmandu to areas such as Trishuli take nine to 10 hours, with damaged or completely washed-out roads and bridges forcing volunteers to take longer routes. Teams are travelling in trucks carrying supplies, while demand for 4x4 vehicles has surged, making them difficult to arrange and prompting suppliers to raise prices.The problem is more acute in Rasuwa, where some affected areas have no road connectivity and helicopters are the only practical option. Each trip can cost around $2,000, significantly increasing the cost of delivering relief.“So the challenge is not simply having relief material available. The biggest challenge is getting that aid to the families who need it most,” Mr. Naidu said.The organisation is procuring supplies locally, but demand is outstripping availability for mattresses, solar lights and other household items.“People need much more than food. They are asking how they are going to rebuild their lives,” Mr. Naidu said.The next phase will require shelter, clean water and sanitation and getting children back into education, followed by restoring livelihoods and rebuilding homes, roads, bridges and community infrastructure.Khalsa Aid had earlier proposed adopting inaccessible villages for longer-term support. The proposal is being assessed on the extent of damage, families affected, livelihood losses and infrastructure needs, with the aim of concentrating resources in severely affected communities rather than spreading assistance thinly.The organisation is also considering temporary holding centres with mattresses, portable washroom facilities and cooking arrangements for families living together without basic amenities.Ten Indian volunteers are currently involved in logistics, assessments, packing and distribution. Many have prior disaster-response experience, including during the recent Assam floods, but Nepal has posed added challenges of mountainous terrain, long journeys and limited electricity and internet connectivity.The organisation has also sought official permission to clear debris in local areas to restore connectivity and ease access to affected communities.