Devastating floods and landslides have struck Nepal's Rasuwa District, near the Timure and Syabrubesi areas in the country's mountainous north, damaging roads, bridges and homes and leaving many people missing. Church and relief leaders report that two of the six churches in Timure were swept away, and that more than 125 believers are among the dead, with officials saying confirmation is pending as search and assessment work continues. More than 8,000 people have been affected by disrupted communications, and many areas remain without electricity or reliable mobile or radio service.
The disaster falls heavily on Nepal's small Christian minority, whose congregations cluster in the border districts that bore the brunt of the flooding. The World Evangelical Alliance is channelling relief through its national alliance partners, the National Churches Fellowship of Nepal and the Nepal Christian Society — believers who live in the affected valleys and know the families by name. The response is offered to all in need, without regard to faith or background, in the spirit of the biblical call to do good to all people.
Response teams from Kathmandu are already moving, with three teams travelling into affected areas on mountain bikes because more than 40 per cent of roads have been destroyed or severely damaged, and a rescue team equipped to provide medical assistance. Rev. Dilli Ram Paudel of the Nepal Christian Society has asked for prayer for the families of the missing, for the safety of rescue and medical workers, and for the churches and households directly affected. The appeal requests emergency food, clean drinking water, shelter, medical assistance and transport, with financial gifts received by the World Evangelical Alliance and directed to the Nepal flood response through its national partners.
Source: World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) — worldea.org
