Five Days in Rasuwa: RRN’s Field Mission to Nepal’s Worst-Affected Flood District Field Update • 4–8 September 2026 

When Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN) deployed a field team to Rasuwa on 4 September, the  district remained largely inaccessible. Roads into Nepal’s worst-affected flood district had been  washed away or obstructed by landslides, helicopter capacity was committed almost entirely to  search-and-rescue operations, and information from communities in the northern wards remained  scarce. Access to Rasuwa had itself become a humanitarian constraint.  

The five-day mission, led by Dr. Suresh Tamang and comprising Ms. Madina Paudel, Mr. Lil Karki,  Mr. Suraj Thakuri and Mr. Mohan Dhakal, was undertaken with two objectives: to deliver relief  directly to affected families, and to establish the field presence and local partnerships required to  sustain a longer-term recovery effort.  

The team departed Kathmandu on the morning of 4 September and reached Bidur, Nuwakot, by  midday, before continuing on an unsealed and unstable mountain route via Chhap, Suryagadhi and  Naukunda — passable only by four-wheel-drive vehicles — reaching Parchyang by nightfall.  

Betrawati: Handover of 300 Food Packages 

The route eventually descended into Betrawati in Uttargaya rural municipality, an area that had  sustained severe damage. At the relief collection centre established at Nilkantha Secondary School,  RRN completed the handover of 300 food packages, transported from Kathmandu in three mini-trucks  with support from Welthungerhilfe (WHH). Each package contained rice, lentils, salt, cooking oil,  sugar, beaten rice and biscuits.  

The handover was made to the collection centre managed by the Uttargaya Local Disaster  Management Committee (LDMC). The team observed the centre to be functioning effectively, with  materials segregated by category across several school rooms and the site itself situated on elevated  ground above the most severely affected bazaar area. RRN met with the LDMC Chairperson, Mr.  Madhav Aryal, and Chief Administrative Officer, Mr. Jayram Uprety, both of whom spoke highly of  the scale of domestic and international assistance reaching survivors.  

People in Need (PIN) and the Community Self-Reliance Centre (CSRC) were also active at Betrawati,  both operating at the forefront of relief management. RRN has since joined forces with PIN and  CSRC, and is now represented on the cluster committees of all LDMCs in the area as well as the  Dhunche DDMC.  

Dhunche: District Headquarters Under Strain 

A further ninety minutes of travel brought the team to Dhunche, the district headquarters of Rasuwa  — a hilltop settlement at altitude, noticeably cold, surrounded by waterfalls and forest. Commercial  activity was substantially reduced, with many premises closed and the limited number of operating  hotels occupied largely by relief personnel. Government offices are clustered on the higher ground,  including the Nepal Army, the Chief District Officer’s office, the District Disaster Management  Committee and the District Emergency Operation Centre, all situated near the ground from which  helicopter rescue and relief operations are conducted.  

At Dhunche, the team met with the Gosaikunda rural municipality’s Chair, Mr. Kaisang Nurpu  Tamang, and Chief Administrative Officer, Mr. Suresh Bhattarai, and reviewed the results of current  airlift operations. Relief had been transported by helicopter to Bridim, Lingling, Khangjim and the  Syapru area, reaching over 146 households.  

The team additionally met volunteers from NTG and YFIN, several of whom have been operating  locally since the first day of the emergency and who maintain a storage facility that may be drawn  upon if required. Their assessment proved directly informative and points to the mission’s principal  finding: the critical distinction in Rasuwa is not solely between accessible and inaccessible  communities, but between those receiving attention and those being overlooked.  

Several road-accessible communities remain inadequately served, including Brabal, Thulo Syabru and  Sano Syabru (19 households), and Dhunche itself, where 30 households displaced from Haku are  currently sheltering, including six Dalit families. Sano Bharku and Thulo Bharku have been without  electricity and communications for several days, with a substantial number of persons still  unaccounted for, yet both remain reachable by road. Gatlang, comprising 400 households, cannot be  reached at present and urgently needs salt and food items. Dhunche has received relief in significant  quantity; surrounding settlements have not.  

The team also met a severely affected family in the area, including a 91-year-old man who lost his  son, daughter-in-law, grandson, great-grandson and daughter — all former residents of Syabrubesi.  

Key Findings 

Road access is the binding constraint on the entire response. Without it, food shortages may begin  to affect the district within one to two months, and airlift — the only alternative for communities such  as Gatlang — remains costly and heavily contested by ongoing search-and-rescue operations.  Relief needs to reach settlements the response has bypassed, not just those where access is easiest.  Dhunche has received relief in significant quantity while nearby, road-accessible villages remain  underserved — a targeting gap rather than a supply gap.  

Healthcare capacity is severely stretched. Many local health posts are non-functional, and Dhunche  Hospital — currently running on a single surgeon, Dr. Sunil Kumar Das — is handling the district’s  trauma care, surgeries and outpatient load with limited staff, equipment and medicine.  

The team returned to Kathmandu on 8 September, and a more detailed report will be published  shortly.