Red Cross puts 93,000 people in great need after the Nepal-Tibet flood

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Friday that at least 93,000 people have been affected by the Himalayan flood and are in great need. David Fisher, the IFRC head of delegation in Nepal, gave the number at a briefing in Geneva. He said thousands of homes were destroyed or badly damaged and that the trauma was enormous. Trucks carrying relief had been blocked when a lake formed by the landslide overtopped, pausing some of the work. Nepal Red Cross has started to move food, water, hygiene kits, mattresses and blankets into places that can be reached.

UNICEF said at least 17,000 children need urgent help. Alice Akunga, the agency’s representative in Nepal, said children in Rasuwa and Dhading watched homes, classrooms and clinics disappear in minutes. At least 14 children were among the confirmed dead in the first UNICEF note, issued when the overall death count was still in the low hundreds. Eighteen schools were destroyed and 20 more were damaged. About 10,000 school-age children need temporary classrooms, replacement materials and psychological support. Dozens of schools still stand close to riverbanks.

The World Health Organization, at the same Geneva briefing, said six health facilities were damaged and eight health workers were missing. Tarik Jasarevic gave those figures. Kamal Kishore, who heads the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, told reporters the disaster was still unfolding and that cascading hazards remained possible. A debris lake upstream of the original flood path is the hazard everyone in the room was pointing at.

On the ground the count of the dead and the missing is still moving. Nepal’s confirmed deaths passed 570 on Friday, with some police updates at 579. The missing inside Nepal were put near 1,924. China reported five dead and 558 missing in Tibet. More than 3,700 people have been rescued on the Nepali side. The United States said about 90 Americans were unaccounted for, with a small number already rescued and no confirmed American death in the first State Department notes. Britain has listed dozens of missing nationals. India’s MEA put 320 citizens in the uncontactable column.

UNICEF asked for $17.2 million for the first emergency and early recovery wave. The State Department said it had sent a disaster adviser and $500,000 for shelter, supplies and water. Those sums are first tranches. A 93,000-person caseload, with winter not far off in the high valleys, will cost more than a first appeal.

The useful distinction in Friday’s briefing is between the search for bodies and the count of the living who now have no house, no school and no clinic. Fisher’s 93,000 is the second number. It will be the one that remains after the missing lists shorten, because a destroyed school and a damaged health post do not come back when a name is found.