Water Mission Responds to Devastating Flash Floods in Nepal

Water Mission, a Christian engineering nonprofit based in North Charleston, is sending a Disaster Assistance Response Team to Nepal in response to catastrophic flash flooding and mudslides in the Nepal-China border region. Latest reports indicate that more than 900 people have died, with over 4,000 still missing.

The full scale of the disaster is still being discovered. With communities cut off and widespread damage to roads, homes, and other critical infrastructure, the number of people killed, missing, displaced, and otherwise impacted could be significantly greater. The tragic scale of the need is expected to become more apparent in the coming days as access improves and assessments continue. 

Clean, safe water is critical during any disaster to prevent the spread of water-related illnesses, especially in the initial days following a disaster. Water Mission is actively coordinating with regional partners and government officials so that the team on the ground can quickly begin conducting site assessments and water quality testing to identify locations to begin treating local contaminated water sources via water treatment systems. 

“Water Mission has nearly 25 years of experience responding to natural disasters, including a previous earthquake in Nepal in 2015,” said Water Mission CEO and President George C. Greene IV, PE. “Our Disaster Assistance Response Team will provide emergency assistance as quickly as possible where it is needed most.” 

Water Mission has responded to nearly 90 disasters worldwide over the past 25 years, bringing an extensive background in providing immediate and long-term safe water solutions. In the last two years alone, Water Mission has responded to earthquakes in Venezuela, Myanmar, and Morocco, hurricanes in the U.S. and Caribbean, flooding in East Africa, a drought in Peru, and cholera outbreaks in Malawi.

The organization has served more than 8 million people globally since 2001. To learn more or to support their ongoing disaster response efforts in Nepal, please visit watermission.org/np.