Disaster and natural calamities are unpredictable as well as unavoidable, with outcomes being usually harsh and devastating. Health facilities and access to essential health care services are often impaired during natural hazards. However, risks of those can be minimised by proper planning and prompt action.

Following the earthquake in 2015, Mountain Heart Nepal adopted the World Health Organization’s “Cluster approach” to bring different public health organizations together to share information and resources to respond to medical emergencies.

The cluster approach favoured novice Mountain Heart Nepal to create a pool of local organizations to support our earthquake relief medical missions in most overlooked and remote communities by providing us with the required resources and volunteers.

Moreover, our response involved an innovative strategy “Integrated Medical camp” where we aimed to provide holistic quality care to the victims by not only managing trauma cases and treating acute and chronic conditions, but also by focusing on a wide range of problems such as psychological support and education.

At present, we work jointly with the Ministry of Health (MOH) for medical relief missions. The communication exchange between Mountain Heart Nepal and MOH has allowed us to deploy immediately following the outbreak/early warning. The collaboration has also supported us to recognize the magnitude of the hazard, and the health needs of the community in the stricken region and avoid duplication of efforts of different health organizations.

Since our founding, we have responded immediately other emergencies that occur in the country such as flooding that occurred in the southern parts of Nepal known as Terai in August 2017, flash flooding in Kathmandu Valley in 2018, and rainstorm in 2019. There were risks of an outbreak of epidemics because of families being displaced in temporary camps and contamination and pollution of water sources. The emergency funds from Direct Relief and Chance for Nepal (UK), and damage assessment and need analysis data from the Ministry of Health allowed us to respond immediately. The medical response program was split into two phases (early and recovery phase) which treated more than 2,000 people.

Similarly, we also conducted preventive and health awareness camp in Bhaktapur to prevent disease outbreak, following high waters after heavy rainfall around Kathmandu valley in July 2018.

The team at Mountain Heart Nepal were also quick to deploy in less than 36 hours to respond to a deadly rainstorm that swept the villages of Bara and Parsa in Southern Nepal on 31 March 2019.

It goes without saying that the resolve to provide disaster relief has not diminished, and the people involved with the organizations are ready to mobilize when similar events strike.

Our impact to date for the disaster response is as follows:

1. Treated more than 25,000 earthquakes affected people in most rural and remote areas of the country after April 2015.
2. Responded to flooding in the Terai region in 2017 and in the Kathmandu valley in 2018.
3. Responded to a rainstorm in 2019 that killed 31 people and 600 injured.

Our strategic plan for disaster preparedness are as follows:

1. Governance and Capacity: Coordination with the Ministry of Health in response and relief program, which has permitted access to data about surveillance and early warning.
2. Resources: Our field warehouse maintains a stock of emergency supplies (500 Kg’s) as a strategy to ensure a timely response to emergencies. The current inventory of medical supplies we hold is sponsored by Direct Relief (July 6, 2018). In addition, we also have a dedicated team of medical volunteer pool who are ready to deploy at a moment’s notice should such an event unfold.