Dealing with Environmental Disasters: After the Flash Flood in Nepal

It has been a month since gigantic masses of water and rubble buried entire villages in Nepal and Tibet. More than 1,400 people died in flash floods in Nepal alone. This catastrophe was on all channels for a few days, but the media attention has long since moved on. Our India and South Asia correspondent traveled to Nepal a few days ago to see what remains of the disaster a month later and to talk to people about what happens next.

"The flood on the Bhotekoshi River was no ordinary flood. It was one of the largest disasters the Himalayan region has experienced," writes Nepal's Prime Minister Balen Shah in an interim assessment on Facebook.

Thousands of people have lost their homes, families and belongings. Now, a month after the flash flood, there are still many questions on people's minds. On the one hand, more and more people are realizing that the risks that people in the Himalayas are exposed to due to climate change are increasing. Many are also particularly concerned about the children. And some also wonder whether reconstruction even makes sense. Isn't this the moment to leave the endangered area?

How do you deal with the fact that international attention is waning? What does the reconstruction look like? How long can people continue to rely on international aid? And what does a reporter experience when she travels to a place a month after such a catastrophe, where the consequences are still visible everywhere?

The current long-distance connection revolves around these questions. taz foreign editor Judith Poppe speaks to taz correspondent for India and South Asia, Natalie Mayroth.

This episode of the remote connection was recorded on September 22nd, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. CEST.