RASUWA-BHOTEKOSHI FLOOD

Situation Summary — Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN)

For internal and partner circulation

  1   WHAT HAPPENED  

The two reports since 20 September show the government preparing to close the search and rescue phase. On 21 September (Ashwin 5), NDRRMA convened Chief District Officers, District Security Committees and DEOCs from all 77 districts to finalise missing-persons data, with each District Administration Office verifying records and entering them into the ‘Setu System’. A second meeting of the central and district Monsoon Response Command Posts discussed an exit timeframe for search and rescue alongside temporary housing and recovery planning. On 22 September (Ashwin 6), a high-level delegation led by NDRRMA’s Chief Executive, with six ministries, all three security agencies and media, visited hydropower tunnel sites in Rasuwa and Nuwakot to set the duration and exit strategy for search and rescue. The same day, search and recovery disappeared from NDRRMA’s Emergency Needs and Priorities list for the first time, replaced by temporary housing, roads and bridges, and service continuity.

The death toll has held at 1,451 for two days, while missing has fallen by 81 through data verification. A new Timure–Triveni (T2T) police initiative has deployed 2,472 personnel along 430km of river corridor in eight districts for search, DNA information, relief and camp management. On the RRN side, a kitchen-set distribution on 21 September reached 171 households in Thulo Syabru and Brabal (Gosaikunda Ward 5), completing coverage of the four Ward 5 settlements flagged by RRN’s first field mission (see Section 7). DHM has issued a special bulletin warning of heavy to very heavy rain across Bagmati from 25 to 27 September.

  2   HEADLINE FIGURES  

  3   CASUALTIES AND MISSING  

District death counts are unchanged across both reports. Missing fell from 5,786 to 5,705 over two days, and nearly all of the decline sits in one line: Nuwakot’s “people from other districts”, which has dropped by roughly 40 a day (1,090 → 1,051 → 1,010). Rasuwa’s local and other-district components moved by only three or four people in opposite directions, and Nuwakot locals (657) and foreign nationals (636) are unchanged. This fits the 77-district verification exercise removing duplicates and people since located, and NDRRMA continues to caution that the figure may include unidentified bodies, rescued people and duplicates. Total rescued rose by 11 on 22 September with no new rescue described, which reads as a record correction.

  4   SEARCH AND RESCUE AT HYDROPOWER SITES  

• Upper Trishuli-1: Operations at Adit 3 are now described as suspended on engineers’ advice, because excavators cannot work around scattered trucks, compressors, iron mesh and submerged machinery. The 22 September report lists 6 bodies recovered from Adit 3 plus “31 additional bodies”; the death toll did not change, so it is unclear whether the 6 are new (see Section 10). Search continues in other sectors, supported by Korean drone reconnaissance.
• Chilime: 250m of tunnel cleared to the control room and 5 bodies recovered; site-specific search paused by joint decision of the District Security Committee and Project MD, with a Nepal Army scuba team still engaged.
• Rasuwagadhi and Langtang: Both stood down, with no findings at Rasuwagadhi and powerhouse debris at Langtang handed to the project company.
• Trishuli 3A and 3B: No remains found. At 3B the residential quarters (A1, A2, B1, B2, D) are still not located; 476m of Adit-1 and 2.7km of Adit-2 are cleared.

  5   DEAD BODY MANAGEMENT AND FORENSICS  

• Storage gap closed: Bodies stored underground rose by 41 on 22 September, all in Nuwakot (70 → 111), almost certainly the Upper Trishuli-1 recoveries. Stored plus handed over now accounts for 1,445 of 1,451 bodies, against a gap of about 48 on 20 September.
• Handover figure: Now 112, cited consistently across the report, resolving the 110/111 discrepancy flagged on 20 September.
• DNA: Unchanged on 21 September, then +43 samples from remains and +19 from relatives on 22 September. Per-lab totals on 21 September (1,957 at Samakhusi, 1,715 at the National Forensic Science Laboratory) were replaced on 22 September by a single figure of 3,345, equal to the sample count. Field forensic capacity is now given as 53 personnel, including 12 specialists in 4 teams.

  6   HOLDING CENTRES AND HOUSING SUPPORT  

Holding-centre occupancy fell from 1,231 to 1,134 over two days, down from a peak of about 4,500 on 3 September. The decline is entirely in Nuwakot (324 → 220); Rasuwa edged up (786 → 793). Both reports carry an Alternative Housing and Livelihood Grant for families who leave holding centres: NPR 15,000 a month per family of up to four, plus NPR 2,000 per additional member, for up to six months until alternative housing is arranged. The procedure has been sent to local governments, so affected families in RRN’s working areas will need clear information on how to apply.

  7   RRN FIELD UPDATE: RASUWA  

• Kitchen sets, 21 September (Ashwin 5): RRN, with support from Welthungerhilfe (WHH), distributed kitchen items to 171 flood-affected households in Gosaikunda Rural Municipality Ward 5: 143 in Thulo Syabru and 28 in Brabal.
• Ward 5 coverage: This follows the 17 September (Ashwin 1) distribution of hygiene kits and food items to 94 households in Thulobharku and 73 in Sano Bharkhu, bringing RRN’s reach across the four Ward 5 settlements to 338 households. All four were named by RRN’s first field mission (4–8 September / 19–23 Bhadra) as road-accessible but under-served while relief concentrated in Dhunche and nearby hubs.
• Stock in Dhunche: Three truckloads reached RRN’s Dhunche warehouse on 19 September (Ashwin 3), carrying kitchen sets for 350 households and hygiene kits for 150. After this round, kitchen sets for roughly 179 households remain from that consignment.
• In NDRRMA 5W data: RRN appears only in Uttargaya: RRN/WHH food relief packages (1,000 planned, 300 distributed, 1,260 people), RRN/WHH high-thermal blankets (1,000 planned, 745 distributed, 2,009 people), and a consortium in-kind food line with DEPROSC, LUMANTI, PLAN and WHH (615 distributed, 2,933 people). 

RRN’s Rasuwa response is supported by WHH and delivered in partnership with Aasaman Nepal, through district and rural municipality coordination structures.

  8   SERVICES, INFRASTRUCTURE AND WEATHER  

Most sector figures moved in the 21 September report and were carried unchanged on 22 September. Temporary learning centres rose from 35 to 52 and student kits from 2,359 to 2,698, and Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nuwakot reopened in temporary structures on 21 September. Cumulative health services rose to 10,420 at holding centres (from 8,509), 8,344 EMT cases (from 8,066) and 12,057 MHPSS services (from 11,251). Bidur–Betrawati is now open for 9.5 of 10km (from 9.2km), with foundation work started for a Bailey bridge at Betrawati. Electricity remains out for 86 households in Gosaikunda (46 in Dahalfedi, Ward 1; 40 in Lingling, Ward 3), and telecom restoration is unchanged at 117 of 120 Nepal Telecom and 76 of 78 Ncell towers.

DHM’s Special Weather Bulletin (Monsoon-3 update, issued 22 September) forecasts heavy to very heavy rain in many places in Bagmati, Koshi, Madhesh and Sudurpaschim from 25 to 27 September (Ashwin 9–11), with extremely heavy rain possible in parts of Gandaki and Lumbini, as a low-pressure system over the north Andaman Sea strengthens into a deep depression. DHM warns of landslides, floods and debris flows. For RRN this matters for the destabilised Trishuli–Bhotekoshi corridor, road works at Betrawati, remaining holding-centre residents and any field team movement in Rasuwa over the weekend.