In Nepal’s flood zone, the second disaster is psychological

For four days, a couple in Nuwakot believed the flood had taken the other person's life. Cut off on opposite sides of the water, they had no way to confirm that either had survived.

A psychosocial team from the Centre for Mental Health and Counseling Nepal eventually connected them by phone. They then asked to be reunited immediately and were flown by helicopter to a holding centre for flood survivors, where their children ran to them crying.

The reunion offered a rare moment of relief during a much larger crisis. A week after Nepal's deadliest flood in a decade, the death toll had reached 951, nearly 4,000 people were still missing and more than 11,000 had been rescued. Alongside destroyed homes, roads, bridges and settlements, responders are seeing a psychological toll that is only beginning to emerge.

The government has deployed about 50 psychiatrists, psychologists and psychosocial counsellors across Rasuwa and Nuwakot through the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division. Another 64 trained counsellors are on standby in Bagmati Province. Mental health professionals involved in the response say psychological first aid typically begins about a week after a disaster, meaning support is only now reaching many survivors.

About 10 of the deployed professionals are providing psychological first aid directly, while a four-person team has been sent to Uttargaya in roadless Rasuwa. The government is coordinating placements and working with the Nepal Red Cross Society, TPO Nepal, CMC Nepal, CWIN and Koshish. The Health Ministry is also offering psychosocial support through three hotlines, including the 1115 line, whose staff have received training to provide basic assistance.

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They wanted to be reunited immediately, and were flown across by helicopter.