A month after catastrophic floods struck Nepal, a disaster response team from the Las Vegas-based nonprofit Water Mission is working to restore access to safe drinking water in the city of Bidur. The flooding left thousands dead and tens of thousands without homes, and many communities still lack running water.
Craig Williams, disaster response manager with Water Mission, described the destruction as unlike anything he had witnessed in 15 years. "We're one month into this disaster and honest truth after 15 years, I thought I'd seen it all and nothing prepared me for what I saw in this space," Williams said. He noted that schools, villages, and infrastructure have been reduced to "a ghost shell of what used to be."
Water Mission deployed engineers within days of the disaster and is coordinating with the Nepalese government. Four water treatment systems are now operating at locations including two schools serving as shelters and a police station. The systems filter particles and use chlorination to produce safe drinking water, generating nearly 30,000 liters so far and serving between 350 and 950 people daily at each site.
The organization is also trucking treated water from distribution points to empty storage tanks throughout the region. Williams emphasized that rapid water access prevents secondary health crises. "If we don't get disaster right on the front end, we end up with a health crisis on the tail end that wasn't there before, so we've got to get water right at the very beginning," he said.
Despite the progress, needs remain immense. Government figures report more than 1,450 deaths and over 5,000 people still missing, while the United Nations estimates roughly 352,000 people were affected and thousands remain displaced. "These people need to look at this river space every day, see the remnants of their life every day and figure out where do we start again," Williams said.
Sources: 8 News Now
Original reporting: 8 News Now →
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