‘I do not know if the doctor survived’: young mothers recall ‘living hell’ of Nepal’s floods
Kalpana Nepali was seven months pregnant when the catastrophic flash floods hit last month, while Pooja Pariyal spent three days on a hospital roof waiting to be rescued. Now, they are living precariously in temporary shelters
TL;DR
- Pooja Pariyal and her infant daughter were stranded on a hospital roof for three days after catastrophic flash floods in Nepal.
- Kalpana Nepali, seven months pregnant, escaped her home after a warning from her husband and was later rescued by helicopter.
- More than 1,400 people have died, over 5,700 are missing, and over 80,000 require humanitarian assistance following the floods.
- The floods, triggered by a glacier collapse, destroyed villages, roads, and bridges, displacing tens of thousands.
- Pregnant and lactating women are particularly vulnerable to trauma and postpartum depression in the aftermath.
- Temporary shelters face challenges like overcrowding and inadequate sanitation.