U.S. Aid and Relief Efforts Underway After Nepal-Tibet Floods Leave Hundreds Missing

JOEL ROSE, HOST:

There are still thousands of missing people after the devastating flooding and landslide in Nepal and Tibet, including several hundred foreign nationals. The search for survivors is getting more urgent, as State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told ABC's "This Week."

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TOMMY PIGOTT: We now have 85 Americans, approximately, that are unaccounted for. We've also now seen nine Americans be safely evacuated. We are currently unaware of any U.S. citizen deaths at this time. The highest priority - getting accurate information from the region - a hard region to reach at the best of times, made even more so by the devastation and the remoteness that we see.

ROSE: That remoteness is shaping the response now, including the effort to get food, water and emergency shelter to survivors. The U.S. has now pledged more than $3 1/2 million in humanitarian aid. The first half million dollars of that aid is being distributed through Catholic Relief Services. Senthil Kumar Gurunathan is the group's South Asia representative, and he joins me now from Kathmandu. Welcome to the program.

SENTHIL KUMAR GURUNATHAN: Thank you so much, and thanks for having me here.

ROSE: First, give us a sense of what you're seeing. For the people who have survived these devastating floods, what do they need most right now?

GURUNATHAN: Well, people who have survived have literally lost everything they had because they just had to flee their homes to save their lives. So we know that these people are now trying to find a safe shelter. So many of them, in hundreds, are actually located in whatever safe spaces they could have. So we have heard accounts of people staying in a school which they could find. Or, I mean, there are also accounts of one house having about 30 people over there. So people are just trying to actually scramble and find whatever safe space they could have. And then we also are hearing that there are urgent needs for food, something which they can readily eat, something they can actually cook and eat in those areas. Certainly, drinking water is a big challenge there with water pipelines actually having been damaged.

ROSE: When you look at everything these people need, and you mentioned that many of them have lost everything that they owned, what are you trying to prioritize first?

GURUNATHAN: Certainly food, and we are actually trying to give them some safe shelter. We are actually also looking at clothes because people just don't have clothes to change. We are actually prioritizing giving them some dignity kits - so for their menstrual hygiene and sanitation needs. So these are the urgent needs which we are prioritizing, but then we know that there are other needs which are lying ahead of us. Winter is around the corner. And we are actually looking at how we can help people pass through this winter, overcome the winter, which is actually sort of coming up very soon. And we are actually looking at winterization efforts so that we can help people keep them warmer.

ROSE: How hard is it to actually get those supplies to the people who need them? And are there people that you have not been able to reach yet?

GURUNATHAN: Well, we are doing our best to get the supplies to the people. So it's not easy because nearly 40 kilometers of roadways, which is sort of the lifeline between these affected areas and the capital city, Kathmandu, has been washed off. So we are actually trying to find alternative routes, safer routes which can actually help us to get the lifesaving stuff to people. We have been able to get some basic nonfood items, like mosquito nets and blankets and mats. But then, certainly, there are a lot more needs, which we are actually identifying, and we are actually working towards getting those to people in need.

ROSE: Among the missing are dozens of Americans. What do you know about the search for them?

GURUNATHAN: We know that the government is actually putting its - all our efforts to actually get to people who are still missing, and I think that's been a priority which we are hearing from the government here - from our conversations with the government. So I would say that the efforts are on, and yeah, we are hoping for the best.

ROSE: What are some of the other long-term challenges that you are planning for once we get out of this initial rescue and recovery phase?

GURUNATHAN: Shelter, certainly, because houses and settlements and villages have been completely wiped out. Livelihoods because households have actually lost assets which they have. They've also lost their shops and other means to earn livelihoods. So we are actually going to be prioritizing how we can help them rebuild their livelihoods. Mental health, certainly, because it's been a very traumatic experience for people, and different people would have experienced this differently, children-aged and others. So we are actually going to be prioritizing mental health to see how we can help people recover from this tragedy.

ROSE: That is Senthil Kumar Gurunathan. He is the South Asia representative for Catholic Relief Services, which is helping to deliver emergency aid to communities affected by the floods in Nepal and Tibet. Thank you very much for speaking with us.

GURUNATHAN: Thank you so much for having me here.

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