By Bijoy Patro in Kathmandu
11 August 2002

Nepal Red Cross volunteers have been the first humanitarians to rescue survivors and provide relief aid to people affected by floods and landslides in some of the most inaccessible areas of the Himalayan kingdom.

Four hundred and four people have died and 173 are still missing as floods and landslides followed incessant rain in 47 of Nepal s 75 districts since the arrival of this year s monsoon rains. The region experienced its heaviest rainfall in 30 years between July 21and 24.

More than 250,000 extremely vulnerable people, many of them belonging to remote mountain communities in the laps of the Himalayas, face an uncertain future as landslides have buried their loved ones and their homes and livestock under tonnes of debris.

The situation is getting worse as time passes and hope of rescuing the missing is reducing with every passing day. Most may have died under the debris, mainly mud and boulders that tumbled downhill at high velocity and crushed or buried houses, says Eelko Brouwer, Federation Disaster Response Delegate. The stark face of the disaster was revealed to me when a villager in Makwanpur told me that there was a child lying under the debris where I stood.

The stench in the air fills Red Cross volunteers carrying out a grim search for the missing people under the wet mud with a sense of hopelessness. Nevertheless, the search goes on, if nothing, then to provide the dead with a dignified funeral.

Often, the Nepal Red Cross has been the only humanitarian organisation reaching relief to the disaster-affected people. A vast network of volunteers made it possible for the Red Cross to work with the community immediately after the disaster, says Bob McKerrow, Federation head of delegation for South Asia. Red Cross volunteers have walked for five days to assist remote communities. Much of the initial evacuation and assessment for relief was carried out by these volunteers with little equipment or resources.

As the country s lead disaster response agency, the Nepal Red Cross has assumed the coordination role for all humanitarian organisations as also the government. Earlier, the Red Cross would support the government in its humanitarian role following a disaster. This time, the roles have been reversed, says Som Prasad Humgain, President of Red Cross Kabhre branch. Now, humanitarians and government officials have asked us to take the lead assessing and distributing relief among the affected people.

Many humanitarian agencies too are providing their relief goods for distributions by Nepal Red Cross to vulnerable people assessed by Red Cross staff and volunteers. The Red Cross is everywhere and its widespread network and access is an advantage, says Rabindra Rajbanshi, Program Officer with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA). Which is why our organisation trusted the relief goods it procured to Red Cross for identifying the beneficiaries and distributing the relief.

Similarly, the UNHCR provided the Jhapa branch of the Nepal Red Cross kitchen sets to distribute among the flood-affected people in the villages of Jhapa.

One such beneficiary is 60-year-old Krishna Bahadur Gurung and his wife of Nayagaon in Kabhre district. Four of their family of nine died in the landslide and three others were battling for life in the hospital when the Red Cross came across them. With no home in the rainy season and the rest of the family in hospital, the traumatised couple received tarpaulin sheets to live under and a family relief package provided by ADRA. We will forever remember the compassion shown by Red Cross volunteers, Gurung says.
In the Terai plains in southern Nepal, floods have devastated villages. It was distressing to see entire villages flattened by rushing water that swallowed all that came its way, Eelko Brouwer says. Elsewhere, where the water was just a few feet high, the villages were a mass of thatched roofs lying on the ground.

The clay houses simply melted in the standing water and villagers will have to dry the thatch and remove the fungus before re-cycling the thatch roof. With the rice crop destroyed, there is little hope of getting fresh thatch to make a new roof, he says, and adds, This could also reflect on the household food security of the affected population.

Mr. Patro is Regional Information Officer at South Asia Regional Delegation of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.