Post by Gina Gabelia
Imminent monsoon -scientists detect the beginnings of the annual monsoon brewing in the Bay of Bengal and anticipate landfall within the month- could become Nepal's third major disaster to hit within two months (1). Coverage of the Nepal earthquakes has diminished from international media; funding goals are falling short (as of May 21 21% of requested funds – US $89.1 million of US $423 million – had been received (2)) and Nepal's recovery is far from assured. 762,390 houses have been damaged and their residents are in temporary shelters (2). 286,000 households need immediate food and livelihood (agricultural seeds) support (2). 547,000 women and children need supplemental micronutrients to stave off malnutrition (2). 1,146 health facilities have been damaged or destroyed; medical care is an ongoing need to handle earthquake related injuries in addition to daily health care (2). Without additional funds and mass resource mobilization to prepare for the monsoon season, houses, schools, hospitals, roads cannot be rebuilt; food aid cannot be procured and delivered; medical care cannot be provided; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene systems (WASH) cannot be rebuilt; psychosocial needs of the traumatized population cannot be met; normal life cannot resume.
Imminent monsoon -scientists detect the beginnings of the annual monsoon brewing in the Bay of Bengal and anticipate landfall within the month- could become Nepal's third major disaster to hit within two months (1). Coverage of the Nepal earthquakes has diminished from international media; funding goals are falling short (as of May 21 21% of requested funds – US $89.1 million of US $423 million – had been received (2)) and Nepal's recovery is far from assured. 762,390 houses have been damaged and their residents are in temporary shelters (2). 286,000 households need immediate food and livelihood (agricultural seeds) support (2). 547,000 women and children need supplemental micronutrients to stave off malnutrition (2). 1,146 health facilities have been damaged or destroyed; medical care is an ongoing need to handle earthquake related injuries in addition to daily health care (2). Without additional funds and mass resource mobilization to prepare for the monsoon season, houses, schools, hospitals, roads cannot be rebuilt; food aid cannot be procured and delivered; medical care cannot be provided; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene systems (WASH) cannot be rebuilt; psychosocial needs of the traumatized population cannot be met; normal life cannot resume.
Nepal's
diverse topography, with elevations ranging from 200 feet to 29,029 feet above
sea level, and thousands of miles of Himalayan sourced rivers make the nation
susceptible to flash floods and landslides during monsoon season under normal
circumstances (1). Quake devstastated
Nepal, where the shifting plates displaced mountainsides and filled rivers with
sediment and debris, can anticipate severe flash floods and landslides
(1).
Roads
linking remote mountain villages, which lost 85 to 90 percent of houses, to the
rest of Nepal have been decimated by the earthquakes and some UN agencies have
employed expert mountain climbers to deliver aid (3). The monsoon will further isolate these
villages, which are unaccessible during normal monsoon seasons (3). Villagers live in makeshift shelters made of
tents, tarp, corrugated metal sheets and logs, and in some cases, old vehicles
(3). These shelters are not sufficiently
sturdy to withstand monsoon rain, winds, landslides, and floods (3).
Remote
mountain villages rely on subsistence farming; many are food insecure and
incidences of malnutrition were among the highest in the world pre-earthquakes
(4). The earthquakes destroyed links to other communities and
sources of international food aid and nutritional supplements, which are
especially vital in the lean months before crop harvests (4). The earthquakes disrupted the main planting
season which occurs several weeks before the monsoon; early crops already
planted can be harveted, but will not be properly stored against the elements
(5). The future food and agricultural
security of Nepal is at risk as farmers do not have seeds to plant. In a bitter twist of fate, the monsoon, which
nourishes the sub-continent's food production, could starve Nepal's remote
mountain villages.
Thousands of people in temporary shelters
in the Kathmandu Valley and elsewhere are experiencing early tastes of the rain
and winds, which render tents and tarps useless to protect people or materials
from the elements (6). Water borne
disease burdens, particularly cholera,
could become deadly epidemics when the monsoon rattles decimated WASH Systems
(3). Trauma and shock are manifesting in
significant swathes across the population; monsoon destruction will only
exacerbate the severity of this trauma (3).
The physical and psychological threats
from living exposed to the elements through the monsoon season cannot be
emphasized enough; this will become Nepal's third disaster without immediate
intervention. The window of opportunity to deliver food, shelter, and medical aid
to remote areas is shrinking as the monsoon approaches (2). People living in temporary shelters and camps
may have to wait until the monsoon season passes to begin to rebuild their
lives. Nepal needs an additional US
$333.9 million to spread public health messages, provide adequate shelter,
provide sufficient food supplies to communities inaccessible during the
monsoon, provide medical care, provide education/Child Friendly Spaces, provide
public works logistics, and reinforce the nation's delicate infrastructure to
ensure public services can perform during the coming months. Coverage of
Nepal's woes have faded from the media, but the emergency needs have not been
met, and will only get more pressing with the monsoon. The consequences of inaction will be mass
human and infrastructural devastation that will cost billions of dollars and
years of recovery.
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