Nearly 160,000 women and girls have been affected by flash floods in Nepal’s Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts, UN Women says.
Survivors face shortages of food and water, disrupted health services and heightened risks of violence, trafficking and exploitation.
UN Women says women and girls are disproportionately affected in disasters because of increased care burdens, barriers to assistance and greater protection risks.
The agency has appealed for $2 million to support women and girls affected by the floods, including through women-led community kitchens.
Nearly 160,000 women and girls have been directly and indirectly affected by the flash floods that swept through parts of Nepal on 26 August, United Nations’ UN Women has said.
An estimated 157,050 women and girls living in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts had been affected, with additional women and girls impacted in Dhading district, the agency said.
The flash floods hit communities along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river corridors, damaging homes, infrastructure, agricultural land and livelihoods. Search and rescue operations are still under way, and the full scale of the disaster is continuing to emerge.
More than 900 people have been killed, according to news agency AP, while thousands have been reported missing. Estimates cited by UN Women said more than 500 people had died, nearly 1,000 were unaccounted for and about 10,000 homes had been washed away.
Survivors now face severe shortages of food and water, disrupted health and protection services, and heightened risks of violence and exploitation. UN Women said these risks were particularly acute for women and girls.
“The full scale of these horrific floods is still emerging,” said Patricia Fernandez-Pacheco, UN Women Representative to Nepal. “What we do know is that existing risks for women and girls skyrocket when disasters hit.”
She said disasters could expose women and girls to greater risks of exploitation, abuse, hunger and lack of access to medicines when resources are scarce.
UN Women said women and girls are disproportionately affected in disasters. In addition to increased risks of violence and exploitation, women often take on greater unpaid care responsibilities, travel further to secure water and fall more quickly into poverty.
The agency also warned that women face barriers in accessing information and assistance. Across Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, Gorkha and Chitwan districts, about one in three women is illiterate, making it harder to access relief information, complete registration processes and independently claim assistance.
One in three households across Bagmati Province is headed by a woman, and one third of these households rely on already strained remittances, UN Women said.
The agency said it was working with the Government of Nepal, UN agencies, women’s rights organisations and humanitarian partners to ensure women and girls can access essential services and protection.
It is also mobilising resources for its Community Kitchen initiative, a women-led emergency response mechanism that provides immediate food assistance while creating opportunities for women’s leadership, livelihoods and longer-term recovery.
UN Women has appealed for $2 million to support women and girls affected by the floods, including those displaced or at heightened risk of violence, trafficking and exploitation.