Race to get medical aid to Nepal quake villages before monsoon strikes

 
Recovery: Khembro, six, lost her left leg

Earthquake-hit Nepal is facing a race against time as aid agencies rush to get medical supplies to remote areas before the monsoon season starts.

Some communities devastated by two quakes that killed more than 8,500 people and injured 23,000 face being cut off for up to three months when torrential rains and mudslides begin in just over a week.

The United Nations said almost two million people are in urgent need of food while millions more are homeless and stranded in mountainous areas.

The 7.8-magnitude quake in April was followed by a 7.3-magnitude aftershock last month, which killed at least 60 people. The epicentres lay in north-east Nepal towards the Tibet border.

Injured people arriving in the capital Kathmandu from remote areas are enduring long waits for treatment, leaving them at risk of complications.

Many require amputations, including Khembro, a six-year-old girl whose house collapsed, killing her grandmother and 12-year-old sister. It took four days to reach Kathmandu from her village. Doctors told her family it was too late to save her left leg and it needed immediate amputation. She is being cared for by Handicap International UK, a London charity specialising in post-op rehabilitation and from earthquake-related injuries.

Her aunt said: “When Khembro woke up, she asked us where her leg was. We couldn’t find the courage to tell her the truth and responded that it was still here.”

Pushpak Newar, a rehabilitation expert with Handicap International, is monitoring Khembro’s recovery. “I told her family that she would walk again with a prosthetic leg,” he said.

The first quake damaged 26 hospitals and more than 1,000 health centres, which left Kathmandu medics struggling to cope. Now, as the monsoons approach, the UN said “time is of the essence” to get shelter and food to villages which will soon be hit by torrential rain.

Brice Blondel, with Handicap International, said: “We estimate we have about eight days to complete the most urgent distributions in areas that heavy rains will then make inaccessible. We are providing essential items for people who lost their homes and most of their possessions so that they can have a shelter, utensils to cook, and things to wash with.

“We made sure the tents we are distributing are robust and comfortable enough for these families to go through the monsoon, which usually lasts about three months.”

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