Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN)

Rasuwa-Bhotekoshi Flood: One-Month Update

26 August to 26 September 2026 (10 Bhadra to 10 Asoj 2083)

One month after the flood of 26 August (10 Bhadra), NDRRMA figures as of 25 September stood at 1,453 deaths and 5,285 people missing, with 1,113 people still living in 21 holding centres, 805 of them in Rasuwa. RRN sent assessment teams to Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading within four days of the flood. It has since run two field missions in Rasuwa and delivered relief and psychosocial support in both Rasuwa and Nuwakot. This update summarises what RRN’s teams observed over the month, followed by a timeline of RRN’s activities. It draws on the field updates and situation summaries RRN has published on https://rrn.org.np/resources/news-coverage/. 

1. Field Observations

Access shaped the response from the start

When RRN’s assessment team travelled toward Dhunche on 30–31 August, road access from Nuwakot into Rasuwa was largely cut. The alternative route through Betrawati and Pung Khola recommended by the government was in poor condition after constant rain. Only SUVs could use it, and it needed urgent repair before it could carry relief traffic. Around 20 helicopters were committed to search and rescue, which left little air capacity for relief. The first Rasuwa mission (4–8 September) reached Betrawati on a four-wheel-drive route through Chhap, Suryagadhi and Naukunda. The team concluded that road access was the main constraint on the whole response in Rasuwa, and warned that food shortages could begin to affect the district within one to two months if it was not restored.

Relief gathered where access was easiest

The rapid assessment found government agencies, donors, humanitarian organisations and media concentrated in accessible areas, with little information coming from northern Rasuwa. The first mission saw the same pattern on the ground. Dhunche had received relief in significant quantity, while nearby settlements reachable by road had been overlooked. These included Brabal, Thulo Syabru and Sano Syabru, 30 households displaced from Haku and sheltering in Dhunche (six of them Dalit families), and Sano and Thulo Bharku, which had been without electricity and communications for several days. Supplies were arriving in the district but were not reaching these villages, and RRN built its later Rasuwa distributions around them. By 21 September it had reached 338 households across four settlements in Gosaikunda Ward 5. In Uttargaya, municipal leaders confirmed on 9 September that Wards 1, 2 and 3 had still received no relief. RRN’s convoys reached all three wards between 12 and 15 September. Gatlang, with 400 households, was cut off in early September and urgently needed salt and food.

Scale of loss in the worst-hit municipalities

In Uttargaya, 1,670 of 2,188 households were affected, with 1,100 houses completely destroyed and 570 partially damaged. In Gosaikunda, five of six wards were severely affected and Wards 2 and 5 were completely damaged, along with the rural municipality office, two ward offices, two RCC bridges and two schools. In Nuwakot, 10 of Bidur Municipality’s 13 wards were significantly affected, around 1,600 people were displaced across some ten holding centres, and about 1,300 households needed transitional shelter. In Dhading’s Galchhi Rural Municipality, around 200 families were displaced and the 15-bed Baireni Hospital lost its X-ray machine, laboratory equipment and generator.

Children

The impact on children was among the most serious concerns raised with RRN. On 9 September, Uttargaya’s local officials told the second mission that, according to municipal records, 87 children had lost both parents. Many more had lost homes and land, and children who travelled into the municipality for school had been cut off by the loss of bridges. Around 40 children were staying at a school and about 150 at the Nuwakot holding centre. The municipality’s priority was to prepare at least three schools so that classes could resume gradually, once psychosocial support and a safe environment were in place. It asked for support with temporary holding centres and with an orphan care centre offering accommodation, care and continued schooling. In Nuwakot, RRN’s psychosocial first aid (PFA) sessions have since reached students, teachers, adolescents and children in Bidur-7 and at the Tupche Phant holding centre.

Health, protection and the needs of women

Health services were severely stretched. Many local health posts were not functioning, and Dhunche Hospital was handling the district’s trauma care, surgery and outpatient load with a single surgeon and limited staff, equipment and medicine. The rapid assessment called for dedicated protection and psychosocial support, particularly for orphaned or unaccompanied children and for families who had lost several relatives, and noted that overcrowded holding centres lacked adequate sanitation and privacy. RRN’s first Nuwakot distribution on 4 September included maternity sets for mothers and newborns, and later PFA sessions reached 55 women in Tupche and Sole.

Winter and shelter

At the end of August, winterisation was not yet part of the emergency response, and RRN recommended bringing it into ongoing distributions straight away. Dhunche, a hilltop settlement at altitude, was already noticeably cold in early September. RRN’s convoy of 11 September carried the first winterisation materials in the Rasuwa response, and a second consignment reached 360 families at Thula Gaun on 15 September. Shelter remains a pressing need. Holding-centre occupancy in Rasuwa rose for three consecutive reports to 804 on 23 September before easing to 799, while Nuwakot’s centres have been emptying. On 24 September, RRN and Shapla Neer Japan provided beds, mattresses and pillows to 200 families in Bidur-1, where 92 people are reported missing.

Looking ahead

Heavy rain was forecast for 24–27 September (08–11 Asoj), bringing a risk of landslides and further disruption to roads into upper Rasuwa. RRN went ahead with field activities on 24 September and will continue distributions in the coming days, with kitchen sets for about 179 households still in stock at its Dhunche warehouse. The government’s command posts have begun planning an exit from the emergency phase, temporary housing, and closer work with development partners on recovery and reconstruction. RRN will keep coordinating with the municipalities on the requests they have raised, including support for an orphan care centre and for reopening schools.

RRN’s flood response is supported by Welthungerhilfe (WHH) with Aasaman Nepal in Rasuwa, and by JDC, the ActionAid Association Fund and Shapla Neer Japan in Nuwakot.

2. Timeline of RRN Activities

Events are listed in the order they took place.