Nepal’s relief efforts often suffer from poor coordination and a lack of institutional memory. The same problem appears to be emerging in the aftermath of the recent floods in Nuwakot and Rasuwa. Government authorities must ensure effective coordination among local governments and other agencies involved in relief distribution so that the needs of affected communities are identified before assistance is dispatched. Relief should not be distributed simply on the basis of what is available or easiest to collect. It must reach those who need it most, when they need it. The experience in Bidur should serve as a warning. As the district headquarters and a relatively accessible location from Kathmandu, Bidur may have received relief materials more quickly than many other flood-affected settlements. But an abundance of supplies in Bidur—the district headquarter of Nuwakot-- should not create the impression that flood victims across Nuwakot and Rasuwa have received adequate assistance.
Let the people decide: Nembang
The scale of the disaster underscores the urgency. According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), the death toll from the ice flood in the Bhotekoshi River has reached 1,355. Bodies and human remains have been recovered in eight districts: 363 in Chitwan, 222 in Nawalparasi East, 221 in Nawalparasi West, 197 in Nuwakot, 169 in Rasuwa, 75 in Gorkha, 70 in Dhading and 38 in Tanahun. As of Monday, around 5,000 people remained unaccounted for, including 1,967 in Rasuwa and 2,340 in Nuwakot. Among them are 589 foreign nationals. The NDRRMA said 6,672 injured people have received treatment and 13,396 people have been rescued from the affected areas. Some 21,402 security personnel have been deployed, while 3,533 people are staying at 39 holding centers across the affected districts. The scale of devastation is visible in Rasuwa and Nuwakot.
Authorities must ensure that relief materials delivered to Bidur do not remain concentrated there. They should be efficiently coordinated and transported to affected settlements beyond Bidur, particularly those that are more remote and difficult to access. Local government representatives are best placed to identify households that have lost their homes, livelihoods and essential belongings and determine what assistance they need. The government should establish an effective mechanism involving local governments, security agencies and relief organizations to map the needs of affected communities and monitor the distribution of relief supplies. Such coordination would help prevent relief materials from piling up in accessible locations while victims in remote areas wait for basic necessities. Relief is meaningful only when it reaches the right people at the right time. Assistance delivered to Bidur should not be treated as the end of the relief chain, but as a distribution point from which supplies are efficiently taken to communities in need across Nuwakot and Rasuwa.
