'The health system in Nepal is not prepared for this'

More than 5,600 people are still missing following the catastrophic flash floods in Nepal. The board in the photograph is covered with pictures of some of the missing in Devighat. Sameer Shrestha/Anadolu/via Getty Images hide caption

"There's nothing left there," says Shushma Bhusal, the regional lead for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "There's no village, no sign of anyone there. A lot of houses have just been washed off."

Bhusal is describing parts of Bidur municipality after the flood. Before disaster struck, it was a bustling place, home to about 60,000 people. Hundreds of homes and businesses hugged the Trishuli River, which cuts a winding path through the Nepali Himalayas. It was a central transit hub, about two and half hours from Kathmandu, Nepal's capital.

Across the river, Trishuli hospital served the larger region. But the bridge to get there was destroyed by the enormous torrent of water, mud and debris unleashed by a collapsed glacier on Aug. 26.

"The time taken to cross the bridge in normal times was just 10 minutes," says Bhusal. "Now it takes about 10 hours for people to go and walk through the trail and get to the other side of the river. It leaves the people here in Bidur out of access to health services."

It's a situation playing out across communities along the river, imperiling the physical and mental health of tens of thousands.

"It's an unbelievable disaster," says Padam Simkhada , a global health researcher from the area who is now at the University of Chester. "The health system in Nepal is not prepared for this."

The floods killed at least 1,200 people in Nepal and neighboring Tibet, according to authorities. The disaster also completely destroyed or damaged at least seven hospitals and health centers, says Allison Gocotano , the World Health Organization representative to Nepal. While some hospitals remain functional, "access remains hindered because of the road blockages," he says. "Continuity of electricity is also an issue across the board."