On the morning of 26 August, a devastating flash flood and landslide struck parts of northern Nepal and the Chinese border linking Tibet.

The huge surge of the Bhote Koshi River caused extensive damage to villages, markets, roads, communications infrastructure, and hydropower facilities in Nepal. The impact of the disaster is expected to be severe. As of 28 August, hundreds, possibly thousands, have lost their lives while many more thousands remain unaccounted for, with search and rescue operations continuing on both sides of the border.

Children and their families are among those facing the greatest impact. According to UNICEF, around 17,000 children have been affected, with at least 18 schools completely destroyed and a further 20 damaged. Around 10,000 school-age children now need urgent support to continue their education and recover from the disruption caused by the disaster.

We are in touch with local and national leaders to understand where support is most needed and how we can best contribute. For now, we are monitoring the government-led search, rescue and relief efforts to continue while we assess where our support can have the greatest impact.

We remain committed to our school-building projects and, when the time is right, will make it a priority to support affected schools and students as they begin the journey back to some sense of normalcy. We will keep you updated as our work begins.

If you would like to support our efforts to reach children and their families, please make a donation.

Thank you for standing with the people of Nepal. We are keeping the whole country in our hearts.