Jewish group delivers emergency aid to Nepal

The US Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) is on the ground in Nepal, providing relief to communities affected by catastrophic flash flooding that has killed more than 1300 people and displaced over 21,000.

JDC Global Response Innovative Development (GRID) director Avital Sandler-Loeff and head of disaster response Mickey Noam-Alon are in Nepal overseeing the response.

The floods, triggered by a glacier collapse and intensified by climate-related changes, have devastated northern Nepal. Nearly 5000 people remain missing and more than 650,000 have been affected. Roads, bridges, water systems, health facilities and communications networks have been destroyed, leaving many communities reachable only by helicopter. Damaged water and sanitation systems have raised the risk of disease as families attempt to recover.

JDC GRID was able to respond quickly because of groundwork laid after Nepal’s 2015 earthquake, when JDC worked with local partner Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN) for five years to support recovery and strengthen local disaster preparedness.

RRN is now among the local organisations helping lead humanitarian relief efforts, working with government authorities, disaster management committees and the Nepal Red Cross. The relationships built through that partnership allowed JDC GRID and RRN to assess needs and begin delivering assistance within days of the disaster.

Over two days, emergency supplies were distributed to 150 flood-affected households at a temporary holding centre in Nuwakot, which is housing displaced residents from the neighbouring Rasuwa district. The distribution included bedding, water storage buckets and hygiene supplies such as soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, sanitary pads and towels.

JDC will also support psychosocial first aid and counselling training for 100 community members to help families cope with trauma and loss.

Among those receiving aid was 20-year-old Mista Tamang, a flood survivor from Rasuwa, who escaped with her husband and 18-month-old daughter after floodwaters swept away their home. As the water surged through their community, the family fled up a mountain and into the jungle, travelling for two days through rugged terrain with little food and relying on help from strangers.

The flood destroyed the family’s home. Tamang’s husband’s sister and her two daughters remain missing, as does Tamang’s own sister, who had warned her of the approaching danger.

“I carried my baby and ran up the mountain into the jungle. I could not think of anything else except saving her,” Tamang said.

She is now living in temporary shelter and received a hygiene kit distributed through JDC GRID’s response.