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

0:00It's been more than a week since catastrophic floods hit Nepal and Tibet. More than 1200 people are reported dead, and more than 5,000 are still missing, as crews keep searching for survivors. While the waters have receded, MPR's Jonathan Lambert reports that threats to physical and mental health persist. Before the floods, Bidur in the Noah Code District was a bustling place. Thousands of homes and businesses hugged the Trashuli River, which cuts a winding path through the Himalayas. Shushma Bhusal of the humanitarian nonprofit IFRC says the town was a central transit point, and she was stunned by what she saw in parts of it earlier this week. There was nothing left. There was no village. There was no sign of anyone there, and a lot of houses have been washed off. Across the river, she says Trashuli Hospital was where many in the region sought care, but the flood destroyed the bridges that enabled many to reach it. While it once took 10 minutes to cross, it takes about 10 hours for people to go and walk

1:05through the trail and get to the other side of the river. It's a situation that's playing out across the region and impariling the health of tens of thousands. Floods have completely destroyed or damaged at least seven hospitals and health centers, and cut off access to many more. That's making it harder to care for those injured by the floods and those with routine medical needs. Oblisha Garoung is with UNICEF in Nepal. We know in the community there are pregnant women who have expected delivery date coming in the next few weeks. So we set up a basic medical attend so that health services can resume. Even health facilities that are mostly intact are still having problems, like basic refrigeration for medical supplies. There is no electricity. The vaccines are quickly started to degrade. Many who need medicine for chronic conditions can't get it now either. Padamsangkata is from this region and is now a global health researcher at the University of Chester in England. People with diabetes, hypertension, cancer or other disease, they need a medication.

2:06And then even they survive because they run away. They lost a medication. There's no health facility to get that medicine. The consequences are the people who are already under chronic condition even become worse. Those are scrambling to shore up the basic medical care. At the same time, they're on the lookout for new threats. Damaged water systems raise the risk of waterborne disease outbreaks like diarrhea or cholera. And thousands who've been displaced by the floods are crowded into temporary shelters, like gyms or government buildings where airborne diseases can easily spread. The health system in Nepal is not prepared for this level of disaster. There's also a mental health crisis brewing. I used Joshi with a non-profit save the children, visited the holding center earlier this week. He was struck by what happened whenever a helicopter looking for survivors passed overhead. You would see children in these holding centers looking up in the sky. You know, and it's not just one child. It's like every child they just look up. He says the kids looked hopeful because every helicopter carries even for a moment the

3:08possibility that someone they love might be found. Many in these centers are holding on to that hope. And struggling to come to terms with what's been lost. One girl that I spoke to told me that she could not sleep because she had seen four of her best friends being washed away by the flood. Save the children and other responders are trying to provide support now for acute psychological distress. But he says many of these mental scars will linger long after the official response ends. Jonathan Lambert and PR News.