UN agency warns of 17,000 children in urgent need of assistance as aid reaches some Nepal survivors

NUWAKOT, Nepal (AP) — Aid began to reach some survivors in Nepal on Friday following the catastrophic flash floods that swept through the mountainous border region between Nepal and China, as the full scope of the devastation continued to emerge and survivors sought shelter at makeshift army relief centers.

Children who have been separated from their families are being given shelter as attempts are made to reunite them with families.

The U.N.'s agency for children said at least 17,000 children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, while 18 schools have been destroyed and another 20 damaged.

The International Red Cross estimates that at least 93,000 people have been affected and are in “great need.”

Rescuers worked through mud and debris on Friday in areas devastated by a catastrophic flash flood along the mountainous border between Nepal and China.

In Nuwakot, one of the flood areas closest to Kathmandu, entire villages were swept away in a matter of minutes. What remains is covered in sediment and thick mud. Broken pieces of a golden temple were seen jutting out from the sand, while the carcass of a dead buffalo littered the area.

With their homes destroyed, survivors have gathered at roadside tea shops.

The Associated Press visited a school in Nuwakot that is being used as a temporary aid distribution center, where nongovernmental organizations distributed solar panels, clothes and basic hygienic goods.

“What I’ve been given today is worth more than a million,” said Kanchi Nepali. “I have no food, no shelter, no utensils to cook with. Only my body survived.”

Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said on Friday that the number of missing people has doubled to just under 2,000.

The authority said 14,829 security personnel have been mobilized for search and rescue operations, which includes using drones to search for survivors in areas dangerous to access.

Those rescued from the area are taken to Maithali Barrack, a military training center in Nuwakot that has been turned into relief camp and shelter. Helicopters come and go with people and supplies. Community members surround the barbed wire perimeter of the center, waiting to see if their loved ones will arrive in the next helicopter.

An army medic, who was not authorized to speak to the media, told The Associated Press that those who have received medical care have included local community members, foreign tourists and Chinese workers rescued from the flood zone. In cases that are considered to be too severe — such as when a pregnant woman at the center began experiencing labor pains — those individuals are airlifted to a nearby hospital.

Children who were separated from their families are also at the shelter as center workers attempt to help reunite them. UNICEF said at least 17,000 children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance while 18 schools have been destroyed and another 20 damaged.

But the center has also become a place of grief. Bodies recovered from the flood zone are being placed behind orange and green tarp, where they stay until they’re identified.

Chanda Lal Chitrakar, 62, told the AP that on the morning of the flood he paid little attention to the government flood warning messages being sent to his phone. He’d lived through last year’s floods, sitting at his riverside tea shop with friends as they watched the water rise.

When he received the warning messages ahead of the latest floods, he simply closed the doors and windows. After about 45 minutes, he said, he saw an enormous cascade of water rushing from the hills, reaching so high he couldn’t see the top of the tallest tree near his home.

With only the clothes he was wearing and his cellphone, he ran to a high hill behind the police station.

“When I reached the top, only then did I feel like I could breathe,” he said.