A 75-year-old independent farmer, Gopi Lal Sapkota has spent his whole life caring for livestock and cultivating his land. On this small tract of land, he and his wife raised six sons, all of whom are now adults.
Now, everything the couple owned — their house, the supply shed, and years’ worth of harvest that he had stored — are buried under layers of mud and rock.
“It felt like the entire hill broke down and fell above us,” he said, his eyes reflecting the fear he felt that day.
Amid the scattered rubble and debris, it’s hard to imagine this scene of destruction was once filled with lush, green plants and trees. The floods didn’t just wash away the topsoil needed to grow crops, they also destroyed hundreds of homes.
A mother of two, Asha recalls the day when flash flood came, leaving her family with only the clothes on their back. Her husband, who worked in a nearby mine, was injured while desperately trying to escape the rising waters.
The mine is now closed, and Asha worries about how long it will be before her husband can return to work, given his condition and the fact that medical attention is kilometers away over badly damaged roads.
A woman searches through the rubble so see if she can salvage belongings that were swept away by the floods.
Photo: Shreyasi Chhetri, Danish Red Cross
The road to recovery
To help people like Asha and her husband, the Nepal Red Cross Society is providing a wide range of support, backed by the IFRC and numerous other Red Cross National Societies from around the world.
A key element of that support is small cash grants that gives people flexibility to get the supplies they need to sustain their families and start to rebuild. With the support of an emergency allocation from IFRC’s Disaster Response Emergency Fund (IFRC-DREF), the cash support is being distributed by the Nepal Red Cross Society and other Red Cross National Societies from the United Kingdom, The United States, Denmark, Switzerland, Singapore and Finland.
As one of the people receiving multi-purpose cash support, Asha feels overwhelmed by the many responsibilities on her shoulders — with two small children to care for and her husband in the hospital.
“I plan to use the funds for my husband’s medical attention; that’s what we need the most now,” she says.
A volunteer with the Nepal Red Cross listens as a local husband and wife, named Bohd and Binda, explain how they tragically lost their 12-year-old eldest son in last year’s flash flood.
Photo: Nicole Man/Hong Kong Red Cross (Branch of the Red Cross Society of China)
A married couple who tragically lost their 12-year-old eldest son in the flash flood, Bodh and Binda then had to search through the rubble to see if anything from their home could be salvaged.
“The 15,000 rupee support means a lot to us because right now we are unable to cover our rent,” Binda adds. “Receiving cash allows us to spend on what we truly need, such as buying rice and hiring labour to dig out our belonging buried under the rocks.”
Houses that were once surrounded by green fields, kitchen gardens and trees, now stand shattered amid a field of destruction and rubble.
Photo: Shreyasi Chhetri/Danish Red Cross
Rehabilitating water systems
The Red Cross is also helping communities repair damaged water and sanitation systems, or create new, safe water sources and hygiene facilities. This support is expected to rehabilitate 100 water systems in six districts that benefit over 30,000 people.
In one village, for example, they helped build a temporary reservoir that holds around 5,000 litres of water to support the daily water supply for about 25 nearby households.
Red Cross teams are also promoting good health and sanitation practices to help people reduce the risk of infectious, water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever.
Meanwhile, people face an uncertain future, and the government has recommended that many families to relocate as the area is no longer safe.
75-year old farmer Gopi Lal Sapkota is not sure what path to take. “My wife still cries thinking about all that we have lost. I do not know who will cultivate my remaining land if I also leave? Where will I go?”