NEPAL: Isolated flood victims forgotten by relief appeal

Photo: Naresh Newar/IRIN

A group of villagers displaced by the flood organise a road blockade in an attempt to draw attention to their need for medical and food relief

GULERIYA, 5 September 2006 (IRIN) - Displaced people in the remote regions of western Nepal say urgently needed medical help and food aid is not reaching them, as flooding and landslides continue to make their position more precarious.

Four-year-old Kamlesh Kumar Guriya has been sick and bedridden for five days without any medical treatment in the remote village of Guleriya in Bardiya district, western Nepal. He nearly drowned after a wall of flood-water hit his house in the middle of the night.

“I don’t have any money to buy medicine and the hospital is too far away. There is also not enough food to feed my son,” Meeraj, his mother, said.

Flash floods caused by monsoon rains last week led to flooding that killed at least 50 people in western Nepal. Tens of thousands have been left homeless and food stocks were destroyed in the Bardiya, Banke and Achham districts about 800 km west of the capital, Kathmandu, according to the Nepal Red Cross.

The government estimates that the flooding has affected nearly 50,000 people, killed nearly 2,000 animals and destroyed more than 10,000 tonnes of food.

Nepal has sought international help worth US $3.58 million to provide emergency relief. But some victims, like Meeraj, say that the government’s reach has not extended to the most remote areas.

On Monday, hundreds of villages blockaded Bardiya's main road to draw attention to their need for more food and medical relief.

Government health officials counter that the situation is under control and there is no health emergency for the moment.

Bardiya's District Health Office (DHO) this week conducted a health survey that found flood victims were suffering from flood injuries, malaria, fever, scabies and diarrhea - but fell short of an epidemic, it said.

“Our health assessment has shown that there is no epidemic caused by flood,” Rama Shanker Deep, the chief of Bardiya's DHO, said. “But we are still preparing to supply medicines to every sick flood victim and also regularly monitoring the health situation.”

Some of the displaced said that authorities should not wait for an epidemic, but act now.

“Diarrhea kills children. Their fever can get worse and make them weak and unable to eat anything. How can these organisations not help us now?” Sabitri Bohara, a flood victim whose daughter has been sick for four days, asked.

Officials warned that flood victims would remain vulnerable to disease while they lived in inadequate shelters and had limited access to food.

“After the flood, contamination of water supplies and pools of water remaining will encourage waterborne diseases,” Ratna Shrestha, a government health officer in Banke, said.

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