More than a week after flash floods struck the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli river basin in Nepal, at least 22,000 children urgently need safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene support, UNICEF said Thursday. Water systems have been damaged across affected districts, while toilets and other sanitation facilities have been damaged or destroyed, raising the risk of waterborne and infectious diseases.
Affected families are now living with host communities or in holding centres — crowded spaces that make it difficult to maintain safe hygiene practices. The World Health Organization warned this week that flooding, displacement, overcrowding and stagnant water can increase the risk of communicable diseases such as dengue and scrub typhus. UNICEF Representative Alice Akunga said waterborne disease risk increases rapidly in these conditions but is preventable.
UNICEF has dispatched water, sanitation and hygiene supplies for around 19,000 people in Rasuwa and Nuwakot, among the hardest hit areas. The shipment includes more than 3,800 hygiene kits, 3,300 collapsible 10-litre jerrycans, 3,500 buckets, 3,500 one-litre mugs, 4,000 bottles of water treatment solution and more than 1,000 tarpaulin sheets. Staff are working with government counterparts and partners on disease surveillance, hygiene promotion and outbreak prevention.
The flooding was triggered by a glacier collapse on the Nepal-China border on August 27. The death toll has surpassed 1,100, according to international media reports. Infrastructure such as roads, bridges, telecommunications networks and water systems were damaged, complicating access to communities and delivery of aid.
UNICEF estimates that at least 19 schools have been damaged, with eight completely destroyed and eight partially destroyed, while more than 10,000 school-age children need immediate psychosocial support and access to safe learning spaces. As access improves, UNICEF will scale up emergency water supply, household water treatment, water-quality monitoring, temporary sanitation and handwashing facilities, and essential hygiene and menstrual hygiene supplies in communities and holding centres. Akunga said restoring safe water and sanitation "is not a one-week job" and stressed that damaged infrastructure needs to be repaired and rebuilt to withstand future floods.
