KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 — Five Malaysian volunteers are heading deep into one of Nepal’s worst-hit flood zones, travelling over rough terrain to deliver emergency supplies and help families whose homes and communities have been devastated by floods and landslides.
The team from United Sikhs Malaysia, a Malaysian humanitarian aid organisation involved in disaster relief and community assistance, is travelling to Dhunche in Rasuwa district to establish a base camp before pushing on to Syapru Besi near the Nepal-Tibet border.
In a Facebook post today, the group said that the journey to Dhunche is expected to take 10 to 12 hours, with the team then facing challenging off-road conditions to reach Syapru Besi, about 40km from the border.
The volunteers will first unload relief supplies at their base before continuing to the affected town.
The team’s immediate priority is to build temporary shelters for families displaced by the disaster, the group’s legal director Raspreet Kaur told the The New Straits Times.
She said a local resident had also sought help for 98 children whose parents remained missing, with the team planning to provide necessities including colouring materials.
The volunteers had earlier prepared mosquito nets and tarpaulins worth about RM28,000 for around 300 affected families, with the supplies delivered to a gurdwara in Kathmandu.
United Sikhs Malaysia said Team A is expected to remain in Nepal for about two weeks, while additional teams are on standby depending on the situation on the ground.
United Sikhs Malaysia’s mission comes as other Malaysian teams and organisations are also responding to the disaster.
Mercy Malaysia has deployed a humanitarian assessment team to Nepal to assess conditions on the ground and identify urgent needs, including emergency shelter, food, clean water, sanitation and healthcare.
Malaysia has also sent 11 officers and personnel from the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) to assist with search-and-rescue operations in areas affected by the floods and landslides.
The 10-day SMART mission is expected to include operations in areas where people may still be trapped, while the team will also assist in efforts to locate Malaysians affected by the disaster.
The Malaysian government has also pledged US$1 million (RM4.2 million) to help Nepal’s disaster victims and support recovery efforts.
The disaster has particularly disrupted access to communities in Rasuwa, where flooding and landslides have damaged roads, bridges and other infrastructure, making relief operations difficult.
