INF Nepal and local partners have now completed three waves of relief efforts following the devastating flash flood on 26 August.

As of 7 September, INF had reached a total of 3,503 people with emergency aid and medical care. These are families and individuals who in many cases have lost their homes, their land, all their possessions, beloved family members, their medications, and many who are injured or sick.

Some other villages have also been cut off due to road damage; these people need resources too.

The response is ongoing. We are providing three types of help:

1. Immediate Relief: Food, salt, oil, blankets, clothing and cooking utensils are being distributed to families who have lost everything. We plan to continue this emergency aid for the next two months, but need your help to do so.
2. Health and protection: The INF medical team have seen and treated over 230 people at emergency health camps in Bidur and Uttargaya. More health camps are planned in the coming weeks, in coordination with local health sectors and hospitals, to address urgent medical needs, especially for children, mothers, the elderly and the people living with disabilities. It’s also critical we provide trauma care and emotional support.
3. Recovery resilience: We are preparing to provide tin sheets, other materials and small solar power systems so that people can build safe temporary shelters. We will then be helping with reconstruction and longer-term support. We need to get children back to school, restore family livelihoods, and rebuild hope.

We have been so encouraged by the response of solidarity and compassion from people in the UK so far.

There is still a lot left to do. Please give at www.inf.org.uk/flood to reach more people and provide what they need in this terrible situation. Thank you so much.

Report from the latest relief run

We recently received this report from the team in Nepal:

On 7 September, after delays due to rain and damaged roads, trucks finally reached an area where 600-700 lives were lost. Survivors from Karummarayang village pleaded: “Please just give us salt. It takes a whole day to come here. We lost our families, and survival is becoming unbearable.”

The INF team left 34 sets of family supplies there before moving to Seruchet, where about 20 families are taking refuge.

At Seruchet, we distributed cooking utensils, clothing, food items, water filters, beds, and blankets. Som, though grieving the loss of his own father, continues to help others in the village. He told us: “I am so happy with the quality and amount of the supplies; I don’t have words enough to express my gratitude.”

Further ahead lies a village of around 50 families, a day’s walk away, now without basic supplies. We are arranging for people to carry salt and oil to them.

On 8 September, while returning to Pokhara, we stopped at Bedrawati Trishuli Bazaar, one of the most devastated areas (image below). The river now flows calm and innocent, but the destruction remains overwhelming. Buildings are buried, some barely visible. Security personnel dig slowly, weary and discouraged, while shop owners try to salvage what little remains. Relief must continue with temporary shelters, and we will act on this soon.

Thank you again for your support and love for Nepal.