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Nepal Flash Floods: Five Days After the Floods, Secondary Health Risks Rise
Beyond emergency care, health needs around clean water and sanitation, primary care needs, and maternal health are top concerns for health providers in northern Nepal. Direct Relief is preparing a 21-ton shipment to support patient care.
People search near home along the Bhotekoshi River in Nuwakot, Nepal, on August 28, 2026. Health concerns are expected to rise as many areas remain cut off from access. (Photo by Ambir Tolang / NurPhoto via AFP)
Five days have passed since flash floods and debris flows swept through the border region of northern Nepal, and emergency responders are continuing search and rescue efforts, including for several hundred workers believed to be trapped in underground tunnels near hydropower projects in the area.
The death toll rose to 950 people on Monday, with more than 4,400 people missing. Access remains extremely limited, with 32 bridges destroyed and 25 miles of road destroyed. Many places are only reachable by helicopter, and monsoonal rains are threatening to cause further flooding. Roughly 10,000 households need immediate relief, according to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.
Direct Relief-supported organizations have deployed to the disaster zone with equipment and medications pre-positioned before the floods began.
With support from Direct Relief, Dhulikhel Hospital has deployed medical teams to provide care in communities affected by recent floods and debris flows in northern Nepal. (Photos courtesy of Dhulikhel Hospital)
Direct Relief partner Dhulikhel Hospital has emergency medical staff on the ground, with a medical team based out of Dhunche, about 12 miles southwest down valley from the main border-crossing impact zone.
The group reported that they have deployed doctors and surgeons via Nepal Army helicopters to bolster the capacity of hospitals in the impacted areas, including Rasuwa Hospital. In addition, Dhulikhel Hospital doctors have flown into Syabrubesi to support internally displaced people, and to Galgung to provide care to hydropower tunnel survivors.
The Transition to Secondary Health Emergency Risks
While search and rescue operations are still underway, the immediate life-saving work is giving way to restoring basic health services for thousands of displaced people, including primary care, medication for diabetes and high blood pressure, care for pregnant women and new mothers, and clean water and hygiene, said Gordon Willcock, Direct Relief’s Asia Pacific Regional Director.
“The concern our partners raise most urgently is disease,” he said. “When people are displaced into crowded conditions without safe water or sanitation, in an environment where human and animal remains have not been recovered, outbreaks become the second emergency. That is why the requests we are receiving are for IV fluids, antibiotics, protective equipment, rapid diagnostic tests, and water treatment supplies.”
On-the-Ground Healthcare Deployment
Medical staff from Dhulikhel Hospital distribute medications and provide health services during outreach this week. (Courtesy photo)
To support these needs, Direct Relief is preparing a 21-ton shipment of medical aid and medications to multiple organizations in Nepal, including Dhulikhel Hospital and Mountain Heart Nepal, which also deployed to impacted areas to provide care with Direct Relief-donated medical supplies.
Items included in the shipment:
Diabetes management medications and supplies
Respiratory health medicines
Essential medications
Trauma and wound care supplies
Solar chargers and lights
Emergency health kits, filled with medicines and supplies commonly requested after emergencies
Field medic packs, designed for first responders providing care in disaster settings
Hygiene products, including soap, shampoo, and dental care items for displaced people
Direct Relief has shared its available medical inventory with Nepal’s Ministry of Health and other in-country partners, and is working through formal request lists as they come in — currently weighted toward IV fluids, antibiotics, protective equipment, rapid diagnostic tests, and water treatment supplies.
Direct Relief is also providing financial support to the Shanti Foundation for emergency flood response efforts to impacted women and children. The foundation, led by Shanti Tamang, a long-time partner of Direct Relief, will be providing hygiene supplies, child-friendly spaces in displacement centers and temporary settlements, and psychosocial support.
Long-Term Commitment to Nepal’s Health Infrastructure
Direct Relief’s engagement in Nepal dates to 1985 and has provided more than $119 million in medical aid across 48 partner organizations, 206 shipments, 638,000 lbs. of aid, and 34.9 million defined daily doses of medicine — including a $287,000 shipment of diabetes and cancer medications delivered this month, before the flood.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Direct Relief doing right now in response to the Nepal Floods?
Direct Relief has issued an emergency operating grant to Mountain Heart Nepal and is supporting its emergency medical teams, which are using pre-positioned Direct Relief field medic packs to reach flood-affected communities in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts. Direct Relief is also coordinating delivery of medicines, medical supplies and hygiene kits to Nepal’s Ministry of Health, and has shared available medical inventory with the Ministry and other in-country partners.
Why does access matter in an emergency?
Because medicines and clinicians only help if they can reach patients. Rasuwa’s mountainous terrain was difficult to access even before the flood; now, with roads, bridges and hydropower infrastructure destroyed, some communities are reachable only by helicopter and moving people and supplies is itself a medical challenge. Supporting transportation, logistics and locally led distribution is central to this response, the same way it has been in prior Direct Relief responses to remote and disaster-damaged terrain.
What will Nepal need most?
Needs typically change over time. The first phase emphasizes trauma care, wound care, surgery and search-and-rescue support, with an unusually large search operation underway across Nuwakot and Rasuwa. As the response progresses, needs can shift toward safe water, infectious disease prevention, mental-health support and uninterrupted treatment for chronic disease and maternal health — particularly in communities cut off by damaged transportation routes.
What experience does Direct Relief have in Nepal?
Direct Relief has supported Nepal’s health system for decades, including the 2015 earthquake response, COVID-19 oxygen infrastructure support, and ongoing outreach to hard-to-reach mountain communities through Mountain Heart Nepal. Those existing relationships matter during emergencies because they provide established channels for communication, assessment and support.
How is this different from the 2015 earthquake response?
They are separate emergencies with different causes and geographies, though both tested Nepal’s mountainous, hard-to-access terrain. One lesson applies to both: health needs arrive in waves, with trauma first and essential services — chronic disease care, maternal health — needed throughout recovery. Direct Relief approaches each response independently while applying lessons from 2015 about locally led action, requested aid and continuity of care.
How can people support the response?
Direct Relief set up a designated Nepal flood response fund. Donations restricted to Nepal floods will be used only for activities related to Nepal.
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