Nepal floods and landslides

South Asia

The worst monsoon rains in 15 years have triggered flooding and landslides in 27 of Nepal's 75 districts, with large-scale impacts on lives, livelihoods and infrastructure. According to officials, 111 people are known have lost their lives so far. The Government of Nepal Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) is leading the response and estimates that hundreds of thousands of people have been affected. Many areas are currently inaccessible.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) has requested the activation of the European Commission Copernicus Emergency Mapping Service (Copernicus EMS) for the floods in Nepal.

UNOOSA has also requested the activation of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters on behalf of the UN Resident Coordinator's (UNRC) office in Kathmandu, Nepal. The project management for this activation is assumed by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), a UN-SPIDER Regional Support Office. UN-SPIDER recently conducted a Technical Advisory Mission (TAM) to Nepal to promote the use of space based information disaster management and emergency response amongst relevant agencies, such as the MoHA National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC), which are intersted in using Earth observation to support the current relief efforts. UN-SPIDER is facilitating communication among stakeholders to ensure they have access to relevant space based information to support their efforts.

Links to data, maps and situational information

Nepal