UN launches $49.6 million flash appeal for Nepal flood response

The United Nations (UN) and its humanitarian partners launched a $49.6 million flash appeal on Friday to deliver emergency assistance to more than 84,000 people affected by last week’s catastrophic floods in Nepal, according to UN News. The appeal aims to reach the hardest-hit communities before winter sets in. Working under the leadership of the Nepali government, the UN plans to deliver cash, food, shelter, clean water, and healthcare. Emergency mobile clinics will also provide medical treatment and nutritional support. The response focuses on families who have lost homes, loved ones, and livelihoods.

On 26 August, a glacier on the border between Nepal and the Tibet autonomous region of China collapsed, triggering floods that have now claimed more than 1,250 lives and left thousands missing, according to the UN’s office in Nepal. The UN’s local humanitarian team estimates that 84,270 Nepalis, or 19,284 households, were affected. Across the Rasuwa, Nuwakot, and Dhading regions of northern Nepal, roads, schools, power grids, and water systems have been damaged or destroyed. Many survivors have lost their homes and family members. Agriculture accounts for 24 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, half of which comes from livestock, according to the World Bank.

Humanitarian workers will deliver direct cash assistance, cold-weather shelter materials, portable solar power units, water purification systems, and food aid. The UN aims to help families buy essential goods, revitalize local economies, restore power, and prevent disease outbreaks. Aid teams will also help locals keep surviving animals alive and safe. Partners have already mobilized and transported relief items to some of the hardest-hit areas. The focus remains largely on disease prevention and essential infrastructure repairs.

“Families have lost everything: their loved ones, their homes, their livelihoods, swept away in minutes,” said Lila Pieters Yahia, the UN’s Resident Coordinator in Nepal. “Working under the Government’s leadership, this appeal will get cash, shelter, healthcare, clean water and protection to the hardest-to-reach communities before winter closes in.”

On Friday, a flight supported by UNICEF and the European Union carrying 84 metric tonnes of humanitarian supplies landed in the capital Kathmandu. UNICEF will distribute diarrhoea treatment kits, water tanks, hygiene kits, water treatment supplies, winter clothing, and learning materials. The agency says these supplies will support hundreds of thousands of people.

“This shipment will help us deliver urgently needed support and reach children and families with services that protect their health, wellbeing and future,” said Alice Akunga, UNICEF’s representative in Nepal.

In the days since the flood, UNICEF has allocated emergency supplies and helped establish child-friendly spaces with recreational materials.

“Continued support is essential to help children recover, stay healthy, return to learning, and rebuild their lives in the weeks and months ahead,” Akunga said. She added that “the needs remain significant and every day matters.”

The scale of the disaster remains enormous as humanitarian operations continue.